Back In My Life
by ILoveJess1
Summary: Sorry it took sooo long!Again!Future fic, lit, Rory is 24 and working at CNN, she's still just in the offices, and her boss is moving meaning she'll get a new boss.But she's in for a surprise when she sees that her boss isn't really a stranger afterall.
1. Bosses and exboyfriends

Disclaimer: No, I don't own the Gilmore Girls, but thanks for asking:) I only own the characters I made up.  
  
Spoilers:Most everything that happens this season has happened. So at some point in time this stuff will come up. However, I'm also going to alter things and add stuff, so if you choose not to know what happens this season I'm not going to make any distinction between what's real and what I made up.  
  
Pairing: Dean and Rory...NO, I'm just kidding!!! LITERATI!!!! Nobody actually believed this was a Narc anyway!   
  
A/N: Future fic, I know there are already hundreds of them, but hey, there has to be some reason lots of people write them, doesn't there! Also, I don't actually know exactly what one would do in the offices of CNN, but I just wanted to stray away from the New York Times, so work with me here! I doubt I'll ever be able to get mine to be as good as some of the other ones I've read. But I just wanted to write it because it's floating around in my head. Hope you like it!  
  
*  
  
I ran out of my apartment building. Of all days for the battery in my alarm clock to go bad, it picked my boss' last day of work. The wind is horrible, it's blowing my hair around my face, which is making hailing a Taxi extremely difficult. Finally one stopped.  
  
"Thank you." I told him the address.  
  
When I got there I was already five minutes late, I ran in the office building, and wearing heels, it wasn't what I'd call easy. The elevator door closed right as I made it to the hall. This is not my day. CNN needs more elevators. I made my way up the stairs to me floor. I sat my papers down on my desk in my little cubicle, and went to my boss' office. Alice Reynolds, she's short, about mid 40's, medium length blondish hair. She's the sweetest boss a person could ask for. I knocked on the door.  
  
"Rory?"  
  
"Yeah,"I walked in,"I'm sorry I'm a little late." I apologized.  
  
"Oh, it's okay. I'm just gathering my last things."  
  
"I can't believe you're leaving." I said.  
  
"I know, who'll I torture now?"  
  
"Oh, yeah right. You're the best boss ever."  
  
"Aw, you're just saying that."  
  
"You are. I don't know what I'll do without you." I said.  
  
"You'll adjust." she smiled.  
  
"Okay, well I'm going to go back to my desk." I went back to work.  
  
*  
At lunch, my friend Claire came and got me. She's about an inch taller than me with long blond hair and blue eyes. "Hello."  
  
"Hey, Claire."  
  
"Finished?" she asked.  
  
"Yep, where's Andy?" I asked.  
  
"He should be coming." she said. Andy had light brown hair, he was Claire's boss, and our friend.  
  
"Hey." Andy came around the corner.  
  
"Andrew." Claire smiled.  
  
"Quit calling me that. My grandmother is the only person who calls me that." he said.  
  
"I know." she said with a pleased smile.  
  
He shook his head.  
  
"Hey Andy, have you heard who's getting Alice's job?" I asked. He was our superior, so he would know. But us being the measly people below them, we wouldn't.  
  
"Yeah, but you're not going to be happy." he said.  
  
"Gee, great start." I sighed.  
  
"Sorry. They're sending Alice to Chicago, and they're transferring someone from California to take over."  
  
"No fair." I pouted. I wanted that job.  
  
"That job should have been yours." Claire said.  
  
"Yeah, well, should've isn't doing me any good." I complained.  
  
"Come on, lunch is my treat." Andy said.  
  
"Bearer of bad news." I said.  
  
"Don't kill the messenger. Besides it's not all great news for me either. It's not like your new boss is going to be my choice."  
  
"Your choice?" Claire questioned.  
  
"Young, pretty, long legs." he started.  
  
"Quit drooling." Claire rolled her eyes.  
  
"Why not?" I asked, "Old lady?"   
  
"Nope, man." he said.  
  
"Ooh, young?" Claire asked.  
  
"I don't know, I heard guy, quit listening." he shrugged.   
  
"Of course." Claire smiled.  
  
"I don't like him already." I said.  
  
"Well, he's your new boss." Andy said.  
  
"Don't rub it in." I nudged him.  
  
*  
  
After work I decided to call Mom.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi, Mom."  
  
"Hey honey, what's up?"  
  
"It's not mine." I announced.  
  
"The job?" she surmised.  
  
"Yeah. I'm getting a new boss."  
  
"Oh, darn people. She's sleeping with the boss!" she said.  
  
"No, she's a he. Transfer." I told her.  
  
"Oh. Well, I guess he's probably not sleeping with the boss." she said.  
  
"I hope not. His boss is a guy. Claire would be so disappointed."  
  
"Okay, this just got slightly distorted." she said.  
  
"Yeah, well, I'm out of my mind with jealousy." I admitted.  
  
"Let's bash him!" she suggested.  
  
"How? I know nothing about him."  
  
"We know he's a guy. Maybe he's really old, and he probably has gray hair." she said.  
  
"Or no hair." I added.  
  
We spent about twenty minutes creating descriptions and personalities for my new boss. Shelly, my roommate, came in. She's my height, light brown hair, and green eyes. "I hate my job!" she called out.  
  
"Mom, Shelly's having a meltdown."  
  
"Okay, talk to you later. Good luck with Taylor."  
  
No, my boss won't be a Taylor."  
  
"Bye."  
  
"Bye." I hung up. "Now what?" I asked Shelly.  
  
"I hate him. He's evil." she flopped down on the couch next to me.  
  
"What happened?" I asked.  
  
"He's the biggest idiot ever to walk the face of the Earth. He's awful. He's full of himself." she growled.  
  
"Bad day?" I asked, not that it wasn't obvious.  
  
"The worst."  
  
"Boss again?" I guessed.  
  
"Yes. Did I lose them? Oh yeah, I played Charlie's Angels, made contacts like your eyes, even though the thought of your eyes makes me sick, then I did cartwheels across the touch sensitive floor to break into your office and take your invoices so that you'd go nuts. That's me." she ranted.  
  
I listened to her complain about her boss for what seemed like an eternity.  
  
"So, how was your day?" she asked.  
  
"Not much better, some idiot is transferring to take over Alice's job." I told her.  
  
"What do you say I cancel on James tonight and we rent a movie and order pizza?" she offered.  
  
"Good idea." I agreed.  
  
"Okay, movie? It Could Happen To You?"  
  
"Yes. But I need a shower." I said.  
  
"Okay, I'll get the movie and pizza then."  
  
I went in and took a shower and even that sucked, I had no water pressure. We completely vegged out, eating pizza and watching our movie.  
  
"Let's win the lottery." I said when it was over.  
  
"Yeah, then we'll never have to worry about caddish idiotic bosses. Wouldn't that be cool?"  
  
"Yep. But instead, I have to have a new boss. Tomorrow I will have a new boss. I can already see some stupid old man who's always complaining, you can never do anything good enough for him, he should be the owner by now, da da dada da." I rolled my eyes.  
  
"They should outlaw bosses." she said.  
  
"Yep. They're like ex-boyfriends, annoying and hard to handle."  
  
"Oh I know. Remember that guy you dated, ooh what was his name?"  
  
"Going to have to be a little more specific." I said.  
  
"He was that geeky guy, with the...the...-"  
  
"Oh, Arnold!"  
  
"Yes! Him."  
  
"Yeah, he was really annoying." I agreed.  
  
"What if your boss is like that?"  
  
"If he's that needy, I'll have to live in his office."  
  
"I once had this boyfriend, I swear, the guy was perfect. It was my freshmen year in college. He was cute and so sweet. He never forgot an anniversary and he even brought me flowers once. My mom, all she had to do was hear about the flowers and she was telling me to marry him."  
  
"Oh my gosh." I smiled.  
  
"He was tall, which I love, and the guy treated me like gold."  
  
"What happened to him?" I asked.  
  
"Well, occasionally he got jealous."  
  
"Oh, not fun."  
  
"Actually, it was my fault. As wonderful as this guy was, there was this other guy."  
  
"There's always a guy."  
  
"Dan, I swear, he was gorgeous, and he was fun. We started spending quite a bit of time together. My boyfriend was starting to feel neglected and threatened because I was spending so much time with Dan. One thing led to another, and we kissed."  
  
"While you were still with the perfect guy?"  
  
"Yes. And then Mr. Wonderful Fun Guy tells my boyfriend. Well, he hints at him. Which was worse."  
  
"Oh, hints?"  
  
"Yep. So, my boyfriend breaks up with me and tells me he hopes I'm happy with Dan." she finished.  
  
"Wow."  
  
"My mom was seriously rooting for me to commit to this guy."  
  
"Do you think you would have?" I asked.  
  
"No, not to sound awful, but I got bored too easy."  
  
"What about James?"  
  
"We're perfect for eachother." she smiled.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Yeah, it's great. He's the only guy, remember when we broke up?"  
  
"Of course, you turned into a basketcase."  
  
"I couldn't quit thinking about him. I mean, of course I've always felt sad after I break up with my boyfriends, but with James, I always wondered what he was doing, if he'd met anyone else, how to slash her tires if he did."  
  
"Couldn't get him off your mind." That sounds slightly familiar.  
  
"Exactly, once I saw him with a blonde, and I quit breathing." That sounds familiar too. "I thought he'd moved on and I was so sad." she said.  
  
Quit with the familiarity, think Shelly's boyfriend. "Wasn't that when I came home and found you using a black marker on his picture?" I asked.  
  
"Yes. Then we spent all night fantasizing about vandalizing his stuff. We never did it though, we're chickens."  
  
I thought back, then without thinking I said, "I'm not." Then I wished I could take it back.  
  
"Why? You have done it before?" she asked in surprise.  
  
"Nah, never mind." Why did I go there?  
  
"Rory." she stared at me awaiting my explanation.  
  
"I egged a guy's car once." I admitted.  
  
She got wide eyes, "You?" she asked in utter disbelief.  
  
"Yeah. So anyway, with James -"  
  
"No, I want to hear this. Was he an ex?" she asked .  
  
"Not at the time." I answered.  
  
"But he was after? Why'd you do it?" she asked.  
  
"Well, there was a blonde," I started.  
  
"There's always a blonde, isn't there?" she shook her head.  
  
"I had the perfect boyfriend too. But there was this guy," she raised her eyebrows, "Jess, we were friends. Well, we got in a car accident which resulted in my wrist being fractured and him going back to New York without my knowledge, he had come to Stars Hollow from New York in the first place. One day, I skipped school and came to New York to see him. Then he came back, and I was in shock from seeing him, and so I kind of kissed him. Then I realized that I had a boyfriend,I told Jess not to say anything, which he didn't, then I left for six weeks without saying a word to him. When I came back he was with the blonde."  
  
"What happened to him?" she asked, interested.  
  
"We started going out, but he wasn't quite what I'd expected he would be. Then, after several months, he just up and MOVED to California. He didn't bother breaking up with me or telling me. So, we have now reached the end of the story of Jess."  
  
"Then how'd you know where he went?" she asked.  
  
"One Friday night, when he knew that I'd be at my grandparents' for dinner, he called and left an extremely short message on the answering machine, and no way to contact him. It was the crumbiest break up of my entire life. Even worse than when my one boyfriend left me for another guy. At least then I knew what the problem was."  
  
"Wowie, put Jess in the ex-boyfriend hall of fame. He sounds worse than my Dan, at least he told me when he was dumping me." she said.  
  
"But see, the thing is, before we started dating he was so much better. It's like once we got together something changed. And everyone told me I was just a competition to him. Well, until he changed I was always saying they were wrong, but then he transformed into a complete jerk, then he left, and that's when I was hit with the I told you so's. Jess was gone, I was still in Stars Hollow, and we'll never see eachother again. The end."  
  
"That sucks."  
  
"Yeah. So, enough about Jess Mariano. I want to know about James."  
  
*  
  
A/N:Hey! Hope you liked it! I had this chapter written better and I even had a better A/N, but my stepfather turned the computer off and I lost it! So I had to retype on memory (not easy by the way) Please review! I want to know if you like it! Now, who believed the line "and we'll never see eachother again"? Because if you believed that you have obviously never read any of my stories! It's indecent to have a Gilmore Girls story without Jess in it! Also, I hope no one is too bugged about the whole 'Jess is a jerk' thing, that's just how I had to write it. Fear not! I am a very loyal literati!! Okay, and now I'll leave you with this last request...PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!! Thank you! 


	2. Meet Your New Boss

Disclaimer: I still only own the made up characters!!  
  
A/N: Hey, I wanted to tell you guys that I've changed my mind,(that's what happens when I don't write any of the story before typing it)I'm going to change it from just Rory's POV and thoughts and extending it to putting some other character thoughts too. Now, that being said I hope you like it!   
  
*  
  
The next morning Rory got to work early.  
  
"Hey Miss Gilmore." Andy smiled.  
  
Rory rolled her eyes playfully, "It's before work hours, I am not calling you Mr.Yates." she said.  
  
"Well," he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "Today you get to meet your new boss." he taunted.  
  
"You suck." she stuck her tongue out at him. "I want to know how this guy weaseled his way into that job."  
  
"No, you don't." he said.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"They just asked him if he wanted it, he said sure. Now it's his." he told her.  
  
"He said sure?" she stopped walking, causing his arm to lose it's hold on her shoulder.  
  
"Yep," he too stopped walking.  
  
"So, basically it was just handed to him?"  
  
"That's right." he nodded.  
  
"He could have at least TRIED to get the job. Now I like him even less."  
  
"Is that possible?" he only half teased.  
  
"Must be." she said.  
  
"Hey, party people." Claire greeted them.  
  
"Hey, Claire." Rory replied.   
  
"What are we doing?" she asked.  
  
"Discussing Rory's ever growing dislike for the new boss that she has yet to meet." Andy answered.  
  
"Ah, I see." she replied.  
  
"Yeah. I should probably try not to hate him, you know, him being my boss and all." Rory said.  
  
"Probably a good idea." Andy agreed.  
  
"I know, if Andy and I had that kind of tension, it would most certainly call for an interesting interaction."  
  
"I know." Rory said. "I don't hate my new boss, I don't hate my new boss, I don't hate my new boss."  
  
"And I'll bet if you keep on saying that consecutively for the next 24 hours, you just might believe it." Claire said.  
  
"I'll have to try that." she agreed.   
  
"But there's one tiny problem." Andy said.  
  
"What's that?" Rory asked.  
  
"You're going to meet him today. You don't have 24 hours." he pointed out.  
  
"Ah, then I'll just have to resort to hating him." Rory said.  
  
"Bad idea." Claire warned.  
  
"You're right." Rory told her.  
  
"I love hearing that." she said with a smile.  
  
"It would be unfair and unprofessional to hate him just because he has the job I want. So, I'll meet him, give him a chance, then I'll decide if I like him or not." Rory said.  
  
"I'm so proud of you." Andy mock wiped a tear from his eye.  
  
"Our little girl's all grown up." Claire said, also spoofing Rory.  
  
"Okay, make fun of me if you will." Rory said.  
  
"That was seriously moving. I mean, I almost believed you." Andy continued.  
  
"Well, you should. I will give him a chance. I'm not going to say he's awful and I can barely handle him, without actually meeting him." she insisted.  
  
"I'm glad." Claire said. "You never know, you just might like him."  
  
"Well, anything's possible." Rory nodded.  
  
"And maybe he'll be nice, like Alice. Not all bosses are horrible." Andy added. "I'm living proof of that."  
  
Rory and Claire rolled their eyes. "Oh boy." Claire said.  
  
"Hey missy, I'm your boss." Andy mock-warned.  
  
"Not for another 10 minutes." she replied pointing to her watch.  
  
"Ah, technicality." he said.  
  
"Besides," she turned her attention back to Rory."You guys might want to get along, it's especially in your best interest, because you're now his call girl. No hooker reference intended." she added.  
  
"Yeah, he tells you to do that, you tell him no, that's where you draw the line, but not before." Andy said.  
  
"He's right. You're basically whatever he wants you to be." Claire agreed.  
  
"From getting his coffee." Andy gave as an example.  
  
"Cream or sugar, sir?" Claire demonstrated with a plastered on smile.  
  
"To delivering his paperwork to other offices here." he went on.  
  
"Beep beep, coming through." Claire said cheerily.  
  
"Basically it's one of those relationships where he says jump," Andy started.  
  
"And you say how high." Claire finished.  
  
"You know, you guys should go on the road with that." Rory said. "Lane could probably get you opening act."  
  
"I'm serious. So you don't want to start off on the wrong foot." Andy said.  
  
"Well, thanks for the advice. So, should I get my little white apron, a duster and pick up a french accent?"  
  
"Only if he asks you to clean his office." Claire teased.  
  
Rory rolled her eyes,"How very nice. Now I'm a maid. I'm just a movin' on up."  
  
"Join the club." Claire said.  
  
"Hey, I go easy on you." Andy objected.  
  
"I'm trying to make her feel better here." Claire told him.  
  
"And apparently my presence does not stop you from announcing that." Rory teased.  
  
"I hope your new boss is as cool as me." Andy said.  
  
"His ego is just getting bigger and bigger." Claire said.  
  
"Yeah, and apparently since I'm such a slavedriver, I may have to enlist you to help carry it around." he said.  
  
Rory smiled. "I get it, I get it." she said.  
  
"Good." Andy said.  
  
"I can't wait to meet him." Claire said.  
  
"Even if he's old?" Rory asked.  
  
"No, if he's past 30, I'm gone." she said, as if it were common sense.  
  
"That's what I thought." Rory said."So, when do I meet my new master?" Rory asked mock-cheerily with a fake smile.  
  
"Mr.Winston should bring him by. Soon." Andy said glancing at his watch.  
  
After a few minutes Claire smiled for no apparent reason  
  
"Why are you smiling?" Rory asked.  
  
"I spy Mr.Winston." Andy said.  
  
"Ooh, he's gorgeous." Claire whispered to Rory.  
  
"Mr.Winston?" Rory asked her confused.  
  
"No, the adorable man next to Mr.Winston. I'm assuming your new boss." Claire said.  
  
Rory quickly gathered the papers together on her desk and took them in her hands.  
  
"Good news though." Claire said. "If you don't like him, I'd be more than willing to trade."  
  
"I won't take offense to that." Andy said.  
  
"There she is." Mr.Winston said. Rory turned around,"Miss Gilmore, meet Jess Mariano, your new boss."  
  
Rory dropped the papers she was holding in her hands without even realizing it. Claire quickly bent down and picked them up. 'This is a bad dream, I'm going to wake up any second.' Rory thought.  
  
*  
  
A/N:That was kind of a mean place to leave off, wasn't it? Well, I'll try to update soon! At least now you know who her new boss is...not that you all didn't know before I even posted this chapter, but now it's confirmed! Aren't you excited? I'm sure you'll do backflips later. Okay, I'm gonna stop for now, I shall return! Not that you all don't know that I need reviews to live, but I need reviews to live!! And I need to live to bring you the next chapter!!! It's a nice system we have here isn't it? PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! I love you all!!! Thanx bunches!! 


	3. Hi

Disclaimer:I own nothing!Well, the characters I made up I kind of own, but it's not like I can sue myself so I really don't even need to mention it!  
  
A/N:To those of you who reviewed the last chapter, THANK YOU sooo much!!!! I wasn't sure if it was going to come together, because I came up with this story on a whim, which I usually don't do. But having finished this chapter, I'm fairly certain that it will turn out just fine! Also, I have no idea if there really is a CNN office in California or Chicago, if there's not, well you guys have good imaginations, so we can just pretend!Also, I did try to do some research to make it more real, but once I did that I couldn't make up my mind about where to put them. So they're probably going to be doing a little bit of everything even though in reality they'd stick to one specific task. But I very much doubt that anyone was using this story as a guide of how to get in at CNN!! So basically, suspend reality! That's the fun of fiction! I'm probably going to have fun with this chapter, so, without further ado, here it is! Hope you like it!  
  
*  
  
Jess was sporting his trademark smirk. Claire softly and subtly nudged Rory, "Hi." That was all she could muster up. Her mind was racing, what am I feeling right now? Why can't I feel my legs? Why isn't my alarm clock going off? This cannot be real. Can it? I work for Jess? Jess is my boss?   
  
"Hi." He reached out to shake her hand.  
  
She shook it, still slightly dazed. And surprised that he was shaking her hand. Like she didn't know who he was.  
  
"Okay, and let me show your office." Mr.Winston, whom at the time Rory dropped the papers was confused as to why she had that reaction, decided to move on to the next part of the 'welcome to your new location' tour. Jess shot Rory one last glance then followed Mr.Winston.  
  
"What was that?" Claire asked, once the two men walked into the office.  
  
"This is not happening." Rory said more to herself then to Claire or Andy.  
  
"What's not happening? Why'd you go all 'I'm melting I'm melting' at the mere sight of him?" Andy asked.  
  
Rory shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts. "Because."  
  
"Well, at least you have a good reason." Claire said.  
  
"There's no way you could've thought the guy was THAT great looking." Andy said to her.  
  
"Andy, why are you so bugged by this?" Claire asked.  
  
"I'm not." he said defensively. "I just saw my friend go all spaghetti legged, butter fingers, and tongue tied, and I'm slightly curious as to why." he said.  
  
"I...or he...we...huh." Rory decided to stop and regroup. "We used to know eachother."  
  
"You did?" Andy asked.  
  
"How?" Claire asked.  
  
Rory wasn't sure of whether to tell them the truth or to say 'oh we just lived in the same town and were friends' how would this news even be explained, "Um, we used to be friends." she said.  
  
"Friends?" Claire smirked.  
  
"Just friends?" Andy asked.  
  
"For awhile." Rory replied.  
  
"Then you were more?" Claire asked.  
  
"Yeah, for a little while. Anyway," she reclaimed the papers that she dropped when she saw Jess,"I have to get this done. And then I have to go see if my new boss wants anything."  
  
"Okay, but at lunch time don't even think of leaving without me." Claire said.  
  
"Well, I should get to my office and actually do some work." Andy said. "Claire, you might want to come too."  
  
"Yes sir." Claire teased."See ya at lunch." she said to Rory.  
  
"Counting on it." Rory said. She decided to start working. About 20 minutes later she was typing on the computer and didn't realize the presense of a person behind her.  
  
"Having a good day?" Jess startled her.  
  
She turned around alarmed. "You scared me. Not nice."  
  
"Sorry." His voice was severely lacking sincerity.   
  
"I'm sure."she slightly rolled her eyes. "So, was scaring me the only reason you graced me with your presense?"  
  
"No, actually I wanted to ask if you could get me three copies of this." he handed her a paper.  
  
Rory clenched her teeth, "Sure." she took the paper.  
  
"Thank you," he paused a second before going on, "Miss Gilmore." And with a smirk he went to his office.  
  
"This is going to be fun." she murmurred to herself, once he was out of sight.  
  
*  
At lunch, Claire made it to Rory's desk much faster than usual.  
  
"Whoa, you're early." Rory said.  
  
"I know, I decided to skip flirting with the guys that always stare at me on the way to your office."  
  
"Oh, okay."  
  
"It cut about five minutes off my route." she pointed out.  
  
"Okay, well, I'm ready." Rory stood up.  
  
Claire got her flirty smile and stance as she saw Jess walking down the hall, on his way to lunch.  
  
"Hi." she said.  
  
"Hi," he replied flashing her a charming smile, then he smirked to continue,"Have a nice lunch break, Miss Gilmore."And he vanished once again.  
  
Rory stared at Claire.  
  
"What?" she asked, her flirty smile going back to a normal smile.  
  
Rory scoffed, and stared for another second.  
  
"Give me a break, I didn't flirt at all on the way here." she finally answered the unasked question.  
  
"Whatever." Rory rolled her eyes, "So, is Andy coming?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, so how are you and Jess hitting it off?"  
  
"If you say the name Jess again within the next five minutes I'm going to throw one of these computers out that window." she pointed to a nearby window.  
  
"That good huh? Well, how's it going with Mr.Mariano, and don't leave out any details?"  
  
"That's the same as saying Jess." Rory objected.  
  
"Nuh uh, you didn't say I couldn't say that, and now your 'you can't say this name' timeslot has passed."  
  
"How do you figure?" Rory asked.  
  
"It just has. Talk."  
  
"No."  
  
"I want to hear more about Mr.M-"  
  
"Don't even think about saying Mariano." Rory warned.  
  
"About the ex-boyfriend turned boss." she said.  
  
"He's going to be quite a pleasure to work with. The end."  
  
"Oh, come on. We're friends, you have to tell me." Claire said.  
  
"Says who?" Rory challenges.  
  
"It's in the unwritten friendship manuel."   
  
"Well, there's also an 'if my ex-boyfriend has come traipsing back in my life in the shape of my boss and if I talk about him I'll go insane' clause that nullifies that rule." Rory said.  
  
"Hey girls." Andy entered their world.  
  
"Andy. A welcome interruption." Rory said.  
  
"What are you guys fighting about?" he asked.  
  
"Jess." Claire answered.  
  
"Already?" Andy rolled his eyes.  
  
"We're not fighting about Jess." Rory said.  
  
"Yes, we were." Claire said. Claire is the assertive one of the two.  
  
"Okay, guys-"  
  
"I don't think it's that unreasonable to not want to talk about him." Rory said.  
  
"Well, I don't see why you won't say anything about him. Why is he this big secret?" Claire asked.  
  
"He's not. The Jess chapter of my life was closed. And now, as some sick, cruel joke, fate has pryed that chapter back open and excuse me if there's some bagage!" Rory went off.  
  
Claire was taken aback, Rory never snapped at her. "Okay. Who's up for lunch?" she asked.  
  
Rory surprised herself in that rant too. "Me." she said.  
  
Andy looked between the two, then let out a small sigh."Yeah, me too."  
  
And with that the three went to lunch, they were completely silent until about five minutes later when Andy finally started a conversation.  
  
*  
After lunch, Jess and Andy,whom are equals in the job ladder, were getting ready to go into a meeting.  
  
"Here you go." Claire handed Andy his coffee.  
  
"Thanks." he stood by the door waiting for more of the people to come.  
  
Jess decides that'd be fun, and turned to his little do-everything girl, "Could you get me a cup of coffee?"  
  
"Sure." she really wanted to say 'get your own', but obviously couldn't.  
  
"One creamer-'  
  
"One sugar," she cut him off. "I know."  
  
"Why? Am I predictable?" he asked.  
  
"No, of all the things you are, predictable is not one of them. I just remember." she said, and went to get his coffee. Not everyone's attention span equals to that of a two year old, she thought. She shook her head to herself with a small smile, in the lounge as she fixed his coffee. It's ironic, she thought, then he was pouring MY coffee, now after attending Yale, YALE, while he was off doing whatever he was doing, and now, here I am, fixing HIM coffee. That's irony for you. She took his coffee to him. "Here you go." she handed him his cup, she couldn't bring herself to call him Mr.Mariano yet, so she just didn't address him at all.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Sure. Anything else?"  
  
Jess smirked, he was really liking this. "No, thanks."  
  
She wanted to wipe that smirk off his face, but Mr.Winston came to get them for the meeting, so she used every drop of self discipline she had and plastered on an incredibly fake smile,"Sure, Mr, Mariano."  
  
There I said it! She thought. He was quite pleased with it too. He just winked at her and went in the room.  
  
Claire came over to Rory," What's up?"  
  
"If I kill him, will you provide my alibi?" she asked.  
  
"No."  
  
"Traitor! Why not?" Rory pouted.  
  
"Because, then I wouldn't see him anymore. He's too cute for me to let you kill. Sorry."  
  
"Oh well."  
  
"Why's he so horrible?"  
  
"Other than the obvious reasons?" Rory asked.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"He winked at me."  
  
Claire stared for a second, "And...?"  
  
"And nothing."  
  
"He just winked at you?"  
  
"Yes, but it was one of those 'ha ha I'm your boss and you're getting me coffee and I'm not getting your coffee haha ha' winks."  
  
"Oh yes, I've heard of those."  
  
"Are you mocking me?" Rory asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Very nice."  
  
"A wink is a wink Ror, he probably wasn't trying to tantalize you. Maybe he likes you."  
  
"Ha! Oh of course! THAT explains why he's treating me like another lifeform that he lives to torture that lives to serve him."  
  
"Has a little boy ever pulled your hair?"  
  
"All babies pull my hair."  
  
"No, I meant when you were little."  
  
"Oh please." Rory rolled her eyes, "Don't give me the boy pulling the girls hair analogy."  
  
"Fine. But at least you know it. Maybe he's just adjusting." she suggested.  
  
"Yeah, do you know the look of pure satisfaction that he had when I called him Mr.Mariano?"  
  
Claire smiled."Okay, cool down kid, let's go before you go take Mr.Mariano's beautiful head off."  
  
Rory pouted,"He loved it."  
  
"I know." Claire just smirked,"I know." And the two walked back to their little corners of the world.  
  
*  
  
A/N:'Kay, I'm gonna stop this chapter because I want to update tonight! Thanks to my reviewers!! I love you all and I'll try to update soon but I want to update one of my other stories first! jhfortier,thank you so much, it's hard to make the future fics original because a lot of people do them so thanks for acknowledging that I strayed away! Thanks for all of your reviews, and I'm glad that everybody liked Claire, Andy and Shelly, I wasn't sure if this was going to come together, but I think it is! Also, in the future I will clear up more of the Rory/Jess animosity and there'll be more R/J action! Please tell me what you guys think! I love you all and I'm glad you like it!! PLEASE REVIEW!! 


	4. Hamburger Helper?

Disclaimer: I don't own the Gilmore Girls! I wish I had Jess, but so does everyone else!!  
  
Spoilers:Like I said, I'm adding lots of stuff, and my other stories I'll also do that, so it's not likely that in reading any of my stories you'll find out exactly what's going on this season, because everybody knows Jess is leaving, and that's the only definite part of this season that I did.  
  
A/N:I have so many story ideas in my head, but I want to keep updating these ones so I'm trying to control myself! Okay, now is this chapter, and I don't know exactly how it's going to turn out, we'll just see when I run out of things to type(and before this year is over:)!! On with the chapter~  
  
*  
  
Rory slammed the apartment door shut. Shelly wasn't home yet, so she decided to call her mom.  
  
"Hello, we've probably just lost the phone, but hey you never know we might not be home because we really do have lives. Leave a message if you must! We'll call you back if we like you. And if we don't like you we'll never be home again! Okay, leave your message." Beep.  
  
"Hey, Mom. I just wanted to-"  
  
"Rory! Hey hon, I found the phone."  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Bad day?" she asked.  
  
"Bad? No, I don't really know how you would describe my day."  
  
"Did you meet your new boss?"  
  
"Oh, I met him all right. I most certainly met him." Rory paced.  
  
"Bad?"  
  
"Well, there's good and bad news."  
  
"Give it to me straight." she said as if it was the most important thing since the invention of the coffee pot.  
  
"The good news is, he's not a Taylor."  
  
"Good, good."  
  
"The bad news is...he's not a Taylor."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"He's a Jess."  
  
She gasped,"Oh no."  
  
"Wanna know why he's a Jess?" Rory asked.  
  
"I'm afraid to ask. Because he stole a lawn gnome?"  
  
"Actually, yes, he did."  
  
"What? What are you talking about?"  
  
"My new boss is Mr. Jess Mariano." Rory announced.  
  
Lorelai screamed, "Oh my GOSH! You're kidding me! You have to be kidding me! You're kidding me right?"  
  
"I'm afraid not. I wish I were kidding you."  
  
She started laughing, "I'm- I can't control myself."  
  
"Mother!"  
  
"Don't say it like that." she tried to stop laughing.  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Like you want to say another word after it."  
  
"Well, you're mean."  
  
"I'm sorry." she said, "Luke! Honey, come here!"  
  
"What are you doing?" Rory asked.  
  
"Luke! Get in here! Nothing dear." she said to Rory.  
  
"What?" Luke asked annoyed.  
  
"Mom."  
  
"I know something you don't know!" she sang, "Guess who Rory's boss is?"  
  
"Who?" he asked.  
  
"Guess." she said.  
  
"Paris."  
  
"No, Jess!!"  
  
"What?" he stared at her.  
  
"Here," she handed Luke the phone.  
  
"Rory?"  
  
"Hey, Luke."  
  
"What is your mother babbling and singing about?"  
  
"Your lovely nephew, he seems to have somehow become my boss."  
  
He tried to conceal his laugh by clearing his throat. "Are you serious?"  
  
"Yes! And this is NOT funny." Rory said.  
  
"Well, is he at least a good boss?"  
  
"He sucks!" she said. "He won't quit calling me Miss Gilmore, and, get this, I have to call him," she paused dramatically, "Mr. Mariano. Yuck! It's not a bad last name, on anyone else that would be fine. But he's my ex-boyfriend!" she whined.  
  
"You have my pity." he said.  
  
"Thanks, I'm collecting it at the moment."  
  
"Here, your mom is bouncing around the house, she's making ME tired."  
  
"Okay,"  
  
"Jess is your boss!" she told Rory.  
  
"I know!"  
  
"That sucks."  
  
"I know!"  
  
"Wow."  
  
"I know."  
  
"So, how is he?"  
  
"Don't get me started! I work for him. I'm his little call girl!"  
  
"Dirty!"  
  
"Funny. I'm getting his coffee." Rory complained.  
  
"No you're not."  
  
"Yes, I am! And I'm making his copies. I'm scheduling his meetings. I'm also his own personal UPS worker."  
  
"Wow."  
  
"I need more than wow." she flopped down on the couch.  
  
"That so totally sucks." she said.  
  
"Yes it does."  
  
"You're living one of those movies."  
  
"What movies?" Rory asked.  
  
"They're usually love stories." she taunted.  
  
"You're not funny." Rory said.  
  
"Hehe. Yes I am. You'll probably bicker with eachother, he'll probably torture you, everyone will start to watch and be amused, you two will be completely oblivious, but then, one day either he'll get a girlfriend or some girl will flirt with him, and it'll get under your skin and haunt your dreams for days! You'll wake up in the middle of the night cursing the name of girlfriend or flirty girl, you'll plot ways to break them up, or seperate flirty girl by doing whatever she usually would. She will hate you. Despise you, it'll be a Lindsay nightmare all over again. Then, one night or day or something, something will happen-"  
  
"Like the inn where I work will burn down?"  
  
"Exactly. Then- wait, what?"  
  
"This is the story of you and Luke, except that you tortured him instead of him torturing you."  
  
"Oh is it? I hadn't noticed, well, when Jess wore that flannel getup they did hold a close resemblance, and you have my eyes."   
  
"You are so not funny."  
  
"The truth is an unfunny and fickle thing."  
  
"Very profound."  
  
"You can quote me if you'd like."  
  
"Anyway, you are so far off." Rory said.  
  
"Am I though?"  
  
"Yes. Besides, you've already lost one of the main components of your story."  
  
"How?"  
  
"Claire already flirted with him."  
  
"In front of you?" she asked in astonishment.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Does she know?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How did he react?"  
  
Rory stood up and went to the kitchen. "Oh, he flashed her a charming smile." Rory dug through the cupboards.  
  
"In front of you?"  
  
"Yes." she pulled out some Hamburger Helper.  
  
"Did he say anything to you or did he treat you like a wall?"  
  
"He said, 'have a nice lunch break...Miss Gilmore' with a smirk that I would have just loved to-"  
  
"Kiss off his face?"  
  
"No!"   
  
"How did you react?" Lorelai asked.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"What did you say to Claire, 'go get em'?"  
  
Rory paused briefly, "No."  
  
"He is good. What'd you say?" You could almost hear her smile.  
  
"I don't remember, geeze, is there a point to this conversation?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Could we please get to it?"  
  
"Okay, I'm being serious now,"  
  
"Thanks for the warning."  
  
"Despite my teasing you, I honestly don't want you to fall for Run Away Rebel again."  
  
"I wouldn't worry about that." she took a pot out.  
  
"Well, I'm glad you won't, but I would."  
  
"Well, you shouldn't."  
  
"You're cooking."  
  
"So?"  
  
"What are you cooking?"  
  
"Hamburger Helper."  
  
"Helped her hamburger help her make a great meal." she sang."You're in a funky mood."  
  
"No, I'm not."  
  
"Yes, you are."  
  
"Fine, maybe I am, but I just found out that I'm working for my ex. I'm entitled to a Hamburger Helper mood."  
  
"Hey, Cleopatra, how's de nial?"  
  
"Funny."  
  
"Well, if you're sure."  
  
"I am."  
  
Pause, "But you ARE cooking."  
  
"How would you feel if instead of you calling off the engagement with Max, he would have called it off? Fast forward a few years later, he comes back into your life, but not just back in your life, he bought your inn, and he's your new boss." Rory painted the picture for her.  
  
She paused to think about that,"Oh, that would SUCK, big time." Lorelai realized.  
  
"Well, welcome to my reality." Rory filled the pot with water."Well, Shelly's going to be home any minute, so I'm going to go."  
  
"Okay, don't burn the place down or you'll have to spend the night at Jess'."  
  
"Tee he he. I'm going now." she filled the pot with water.  
  
"Bye. Talk to you later."  
  
Rory hung up the phone just as the door opened. "Hey," Shelly greeted. She stopped abruptly, "What are you doing?"  
  
"I'm making dinner." Rory said.  
  
"You're making Hamburger- what happened?"  
  
"Why do people keep asking me that?" she put the water on the stove.  
  
"Because, the last time you made Hamburger Helper was when our parakeet died."  
  
"I miss Frosty."  
  
"What happened?" she asked again.  
  
"I have a new boss. So, how was your day?"  
  
"No, you look worse than I felt yesterday."  
  
"Thanks." Rory said sarcastically.  
  
"Who? Total jerk?"  
  
"No, well, yes, but also a total ex." They went in and sat down on the couch.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Shelly asked.  
  
"Remember last night, that guy I was telling you about?"  
  
"The crumby break up guy? Jess wasn't it, sure, I remember."  
  
"Well, remember how I said he was in California and I'd never see him again?"  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"Remember the idiot who was transferring from California to take over the job I wanted?"  
  
Shelly just nodded, catching on, but thinking it wasn't possible.  
  
"Well, my new boss, isn't an old man at all. He's a young man named...Jess Mariano."  
  
Shelly gaped at Rory. "Is today April 1st?" she asked.  
  
"No." Rory frowned, then caught on,"Oh, no this is not, not a joke. I'm serious."  
  
"How is that even possible?"  
  
"I don't know. But he's baa-aack."  
  
"Wow, hall of fame break up guy's your boss?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
Shelly smiled, "This is love story material."  
  
Rory rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Mom."  
  
"You called your mom?"  
  
"Yep, you're all traitors."  
  
"I know it was like a really sucky non-break up, but maybe he's different. You've got to admit there are at least 20 love stories with this base, or there should be, it's great."  
  
"I don't have to admit anything, I'm very stubborn. And this is NEVER going to be one of them."  
  
Shelly smiled, "Deja vu."  
  
Rory grumbled, "I'm serious, this one I have total control over."  
  
"Not if the love gods have different plans."  
  
"Well, they'll have to unplan. He's a jerk, and he has in no way, shape, or form changed."  
  
"Meaning he's still cute?"  
  
"Shelly, you. Not helping. At all."  
  
"Sorry, I'm a fool for a good love story. And I've read a few books similar to this."  
  
"Books, don't even get me started on books." Rory got up and went back to the kitchen, Shelly following. "Do you know he likes Ernest Hemingway?" she poured the noodles in the pot and turned the fire up, "Ernest Hemingway. He told me that on our picnic, he didn't like Ayn Rand, but he loves Ernest Hemingway."  
  
"Who's Ayn Rand?" Shelly asked.  
  
"A political nut, that's what he says, but really she's an amazing writer, she writes a great monologue, ya know?"  
  
"Oh, sure." she agreed.  
  
"And there are so many things about him, that I just can't stand."  
  
"Mm hmm."  
  
"He used to smoke. I don't know if he still smokes, I doubt it, he'd probably make me light it for him."  
  
Shelly smiled to herself as she watched her friend babble endlessly and pointlessly.  
  
"But he won't quit calling me MISS GILMORE, it drives me nuts! And I have to call him MISTER Mariano. I don't like that either. I know it's normal boss/employee addressing, but this is NOT normal. This is fate playing games with me!"  
  
"Have you ever seen 'Serendipity'?" Shelly interrupted.  
  
"Yes. And he doesn't just call me Miss Gilmore normally, he says it with a smirk. He always used to smirk. Never smile, just make you feel like he knows something you don't know or he's got some superior knowledge, and that's another thing that annoys me, he does, he's so freaking smart. I went to Chilton and sometimes I felt like he was smarter than me. And now he's got me as his employee, so he must be."  
  
Shelly led her back into the livingroom and she sat on the couch. "Continue please."  
  
Rory paced as she ranted,"But it's just really weird. It's like a nightmare, but it's real. I liked him so much before we started dating, and I wasn't supposed to. I always did what I wasn't supposed to with him. I kissed him when I had a boyfriend, I skipped school, the only day of high school that I ever skipped, and went to New York to see him. That caused me to miss my mom's graduation. And when I helped him study, which he didn't actually study, I shouldn't have told him to turn. I should have went back to that diner and made him study like he promised to do. Then again, he probably wouldn't have studied anyway, but I knew that before I agreed to go. I really showed my stupid side with him."  
  
"That can happen when you really like a guy."  
  
"And people kept telling me that he liked me, but I didn't believe them before he came back to Stars Hollow, and I thought he came back for me. But then I started to enjoy it, for the brief one minute before I kissed him. Then I went to Washington, and I was actually naive enough to think that he'd wait for me to make up my mind. Of course if I would have actually TOLD him that I needed time to think, maybe he would have..." But she quickly shook it off, "But then he got me back, by leaving without telling ME. But he left for good, or at least it was supposed to be for good. He probably never wanted to see me again. That's probably why he's enjoying this, he probably DIDN'T want to see me again, but if you have to see your ex again, why not be their boss?"  
  
"Good thinking." Shelly said.  
  
Five minutes later, "And that's another thing, I don't understand why he acted jealous of Dean when he didn't care enough to say 'bye, I'm going to California, have a nice life.' That just doesn't make sense. Unless I'm really naive and he really did think of me as nothing more than a game. But it just doesn't seem like someone would waste a year of his life trying to win me over, just to leave me. He doesn't make sense, why am I trying to make sense out of anything he ever did?"  
  
Shelly was getting a little tired now, "Okay, Jess left, Jess makes no sense, you like him, blah blah blah."  
  
"I do NOT like him. Now,when I saw him with Shane I was incredibly jealous, more jealous than I think I was when I was in fourth grade and I was on the honor list, but there was one girl higher than me, more jealous than I was then. But when I called my mom today, she had the nerve to make this out to be some twist-of-fate-love story. And she dared to make up a story for us like the story of Mom and Luke. Like I was really stupid and I was going to fall back in love with him."  
  
Shelly's eyes widened.  
  
"What?" Rory asked when she noticed.  
  
"You were in LOVE with him?"  
  
"No! I didn't mean- I- of course not! I didn't mean that. I meant it in the...broad sense of the term! Of course I don't love him, am I on crack?" she rattled. "No, I just meant fall for him. It came out wrong."  
  
"Right."  
  
"It did."  
  
"I believe you. Aren't we Miss Paranoid."  
  
"No, it's just that that sounded bad. Okay, I'm done talking about-" she stopped and sniffed, "Do you smell something burn- oh my Hamburger Helper!" They ran into the kitchen. She turned off the stove and grabbed steaming smelly pot and put it in the sink with a sigh.  
  
"Chinese, anyone?" Shelly smiled.  
  
*  
A/N:This chapter was pretty fun, okay, hope you guys liked it! Sorry for the lack of Jess, I find it disturbing too. Anyway, please review!! I NEED reviews, stories don't write themselves(if they did it would be a little weird) and writers can't write stories if they don't have momentum, which is produced by reviews! Very scientific tonight aren't I:) Any way PLEASE REVIEW they make me happy. And in case anyone was wondering, this update is proof that the Easter Bunny did NOT bring me self discipline, but YOU can bring reviews!! 


	5. Not A Day Goes By

Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Please don't sue me, it would be a huge waste of time!  
  
A/N:Thank you to my reviewers!! You're all great and why I'm writing this in the first place!! I had wanted to update sooner, but I had to stay at my dad's house for a couple nights and he doesn't have a computer! But here it is!  
  
*  
The next morning was a wednesday, Rory got prepared for another day of torture. The whole way to work she couldn't quit thinking about how insane this is. How can they compare this to a love story, she wondered? I've never seen a love story like this, I've never seen anything like this come to think about it.  
When she got to work she said the same thing to Claire.  
  
"Well, Never Been Kissed is a little bit like that. He's the authority figure, and they fall for eachother."  
  
Rory stared at her. "No, it's not like this. They never knew or dated eachother before."  
  
"Well, I can't think of any stories like that."  
  
"Then they can't say this is like a love story." Rory said.  
  
"Fine, it SHOULD slash COULD be a love story." she said.  
  
"Not true. It should slash could be a HORROR story."  
  
Claire rolled her eyes, "Whatever you say."  
  
"I can see it now, The Return Of The Evil Ex-boyfriend." Rory said.  
  
"Okay, I noticed we didn't exactly hit it off this time, but do really think I'm evil?"  
  
Rory turned to face Jess. "Thanks Claire." she mumbled to her friend.  
  
Jess just stood there, smirking, waiting for her to answer.  
  
"Honestly?" Rory asked.  
  
"No." he said.  
  
"Nope, I think you're just awesome. Actually, I'm tiptoeing on the brink of falling in love."  
  
"Now honestly." he said.  
  
"Yes, you're awful."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Anytime, Mr. Mariano." she fake smiled.  
  
"Well, at least I've got that pleasure to hang on to." he said.  
  
"Yes, I've noticed."  
  
"Could you get me a cup of coffee, Miss Gilmore?"  
  
"You are enjoying this way too much," she went to walk by him to go get his coffee, "Mr. Mariano." And she went in the lounge to get his coffee.  
  
She brought it back, he was now in his office.   
  
"Here you go." she put in in front of him.  
  
"Thanks. There's no rat poison in this, is there?"  
  
"No, I'm not quite at the 9 to 5 stage yet, check back in a week or so."  
  
"Good to know."  
  
"Anything else?" she asked.  
  
"No, I'm good."  
  
"Good." She went back to her cubicle.  
  
At lunch Claire came over to Rory. "Hey, blabber mouth."  
  
"Hey, mums the word."  
  
She smiled, "You ready?"  
  
"We have to wait for Andy." Rory said.  
  
"No, you don't." Andy said.  
  
"We don't?" Then she saw Jess come out of his office and over their way.  
  
"No, I've got other lunch plans." he told her. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you."  
  
Jess made his way to Andy.   
  
"You're going with him?" she gestured to Jess.  
  
"No, I'm standing here because I'm stalking you." Jess said.  
  
"Fine. Ditch us." Rory rolled her eyes playfully to Andy.  
  
"Sorry." Andy said.  
  
"We'll just wander around like lost puppies for our lunch hour." she continued.  
  
"You could always come with us." Jess said, "Have a little heart to heart. Catch up. Hey, how's Lorelai?"  
  
"No thanks, I'll chew on my milk bone." she said.  
  
"Suit yourself." he shrugged.  
  
"I want to go." Claire pouted.  
  
"He was being sarcastic." Rory informed her. "It's his specialty."  
  
"One of many." he said.  
  
"And ego's right up there in the top three." Rory said.  
  
"Okay, are we intending on eating?" Claire asked Rory.  
  
"Oh, don't let me hold you up. This isn't one of my evil ploys." he said.  
  
"We're leaving now. Have a good lunch." Rory said as she and Claire started to leave.  
  
"He's is so cute." Claire said once they were out of earshot.  
  
"No he's not." Rory said.  
  
"You need glasses." Claire said.  
  
"I do not, he's not all that cute when he's annoying you to no end."  
  
"Well, he can annoy ME to no end anytime." she said.  
  
"Let's go, I'm starved."  
*  
  
After she went home, Rory took a bath. When she got out the phone was ringing.  
  
"Hello?" she answered taking the towel off her head.  
  
"Hello."  
  
"Paris! Hey, I haven't heard from you in a long time."  
  
"I know, that's pretty much why I was calling."  
  
"Well, how've you been?" Rory asked.  
  
"I'm doing really well. Actually, really REALLY well."  
  
"Why, what's up?"  
  
"Alan asked me to move in with him."  
  
"Oh my gosh! That's great."  
  
"Yeah. So, what have you been up to?" she didn't really want to talk about it.  
  
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."  
  
"Try me." Paris said.  
  
"Okay, do you remember a really long time ago that guy I was going out with, Jess?"  
  
"Yeah. He left though, right?"  
  
"Yeah. Well, he's my new boss."  
  
"No way."  
  
"I'm afraid so."  
  
"How is that possible?"  
  
"I don't know. It was handed to him. Mom and Shelly are not helping. Can you believe that my mom's actually worried that I'm going to fall for him? Isn't that rediculous?"  
  
"I don't know, is it?" she asked.  
  
"Of course it is. He's annoying me, Andy went to lunch with him today, Claire won't stop drooling over him."  
  
"Claire? Oh, the dippy one you work with."  
  
"Yeah. And I don't understand why Mom would think that. Then Shelly said I liked him, I was in the middle of telling her all of the things I couldn't stand about him. And she just says I like him. Then telling her all of the thing that drove me nuts about him, I burnt my Hamburger Helper."  
  
"You were making Hamburger Helper? Why? You don't make Hamburger Helper unless you're upset."  
  
"You're all nuts. A person sometimes just wants to make dinner."  
  
"Well, are you and Jess getting along?"  
  
"Sure we are, like a charging bull and a red scarf."  
  
"That's not good."  
  
"Nope. We're at eachother's throats all the time."  
  
"Any romantic interest leftover?" she asked.  
  
"When pigs fly and my first money tree sprouts." Rory replied.  
  
"So, that's a no."  
  
"It sure is."  
  
"Well, I've gotta get going, I just wanted to call and tell you."  
  
"Oh, okay, well congratulations."  
  
"Thanks. Bye."  
  
"Bye." We hung up.  
  
When Shelly got home she had pizza in hand. "Hope Jess didn't get to you today because I have food and if he did and you're cooking, he's paying for the pizza."  
  
"Hey Shel,"  
  
"Hey, no burning noodles, should I take that as a good sign?"  
  
"Sure. If you want too."  
  
They sat on the couch and ate their pizza. "So, how was work today?"  
  
"Good, but I have a bone to pick with you." Rory said.  
  
"What'd I do?"  
  
"There are not any stories like this. Claire couldn't think of any, I couldn't think of any."  
  
"There's this one book that you guys are reminding me of, but I can't remember it's name. It's an Avalon Romance."  
  
"I've never read anything by that name."  
  
"They aren't your kind of books. Darn it, I can't remember what it's called. You guys aren't exactly like it, they didn't meet or date before, but he was her boss and in order to save his business he had to get married and stay married for at least a year to get some uncle's money from his will. He had this employee, Sarah, and he proposed as a business deal for her to marry him for one year. He'd get the money to save his business and he'd pay her enough to go to college or something like that. It was a good book, Only For A Year, that's it." she said.  
  
"How nice."  
  
"It was actually a very good book."  
  
"I'm sure."  
  
"I know, it's not your type of book, but your situation reminded me of the book."  
  
"I'll take your word for it. Oh, guess what?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Today I was talking to Claire and she didn't bother to tell me that Jess was standing right behind me and he heard me call him the evil ex-boyfriend."  
  
Shelly laughed, "Oh my gosh, my boss would've fired me on the spot."  
  
"I don't think he could fire me, I'm just his wench. But he heard me, then he asked if I really thought that."  
  
"What'd you say?" she asked wide eyed.  
  
"I asked if he really wanted to know. At first he said no, but then he said yes."  
  
"What'd you say?"  
  
"I told him I thought he was awesome and close to falling in love."  
  
She gaped at me.  
  
"I was being sarcastic." Rory told her.  
  
"Oh, okay, what'd you say when he said he did want to know?"  
  
"I said he was awful."  
  
"Very nice." Shelly said.  
  
"Yeah, about as nice as leaving someone who really cares about you. At least I told him how I feel, he could've extended that courtesy to me."  
  
"True." she nodded.  
  
"Anyway, I need another piece of pizza." Rory went to get more pizza.  
  
*  
  
The next morning she went to work. She went in and got Jess' coffee before he even asked her to. She took it in to his office.  
  
"Here you go." she brought it to him.  
  
He looked up surprised. "You brought me coffee?"  
  
"I always bring you coffee." Rory pointed out.  
  
"Yes, but never without cursing my names several times to yourself and never without me asking."  
  
"Well, I decided to save a little time. Plus, this way I got to curse your name more times." she said with a smile that was actually friendly, one that she would've flashed him years ago in high school. She didn't mean it though, she surprised herself just as much as him. "Okay, I'm gonna go if you didn't need anything else."  
  
"I don't. Thanks."  
  
She walked out. "Hey," Claire greeted her.  
  
"Hi,"  
  
"What's wrong?" she asked.  
  
"Nothing, I'm just feeling too friendly today."  
  
"How come?"  
  
"I don't know. No big deal, I have to work."  
  
"Oh, okay, see you at lunch."  
  
"Bye." she sat down, sighed to herself, then started typing.  
  
At lunch Andy and Claire got there at the same time.  
  
"Hey, Miss Gilmore." Andy teased.  
  
"Mr. Yates." she teased back.   
  
"So, are you joining us, or Jess?" Claire asked when she saw Jess.  
  
"I'm going with you and the puppy here today." he put an arm around Rory, which Jess followed with his eyes.  
  
"Bad choice, but if you say so." Claire smiled at Jess.  
  
Rory rolled her eyes. "Can we go to lunch before I lose my appetite?" she pushed her chair in and looked at Claire expectantly. "Are you coming?"  
  
"I'm coming, I'm coming." she said. "Someone's feeling friendly today." she said sarcastically.  
  
"I'm just hungry." Rory said.  
  
"I'm gonna leave unless you'll be getting to the catfighting part soon." Jess smirked.  
  
"No catfight happening here." Rory said.  
  
"Okay, let's go. I'm hungry." Claire said.  
  
"Me too." Rory agreed.  
  
"Although I shouldn't be, I had a big breakfast."  
  
"What was that?" Andy asked.  
  
"I ate a bowl of Special K and a half a banana."  
  
Now I remember why I hate being around her when she's flirting, thought Rory. It's nauseating.  
  
"Well, I'm going to eat. A burger, some fries, I might splurge and get a strawberry milkshake too." Rory said. Do you want a lemon in your water or is that too many calories, is what she felt like saying.  
  
Jess smiled accidentally, "I see the Gilmore appetite stayed in tact."  
  
"Yes it did." she said proudly. Then they both put their friendly faces away.  
  
"See you after lunch." he said after a few seconds of awkwardness.  
  
"Yeah." And they both went in opposite directions.  
  
"I think I like you guys better when you're trying to make eachother miserable." Andy said.  
  
"I think so too." Claire said. "When you're being nice it's kind of weird."  
  
"I know. I don't think I like it either. I'm just in a funky mood today. No big deal."  
  
*  
  
After lunch Rory was back in her cubicle. She dialed some numbers.  
  
"Hello, Independence Inn."  
  
"Mom."  
  
"Hey, Rory. What's wrong?"  
  
"I need you to put me in a bad mood."  
  
"What?" Lorelai questioned.  
  
"I don't like the mood I'm in. Help me change it."  
  
"Okay, uh, how am I supposed to do that?"  
  
"I don't know but the level of weirdness in this building is driving me insane."  
  
"How's Jess?"  
  
"Mean." Rory said.  
  
"Jess is?"  
  
"No, you are."  
  
"Why? You asked me to help you get in a bad mood, that usually does it."  
  
"Okay, well tell me things that he used to do that made me mad."  
  
"Okay, he smoked, can you say bad lungs?"  
  
"Okay, now you've got me worried about his health."  
  
"Not helping. Okay, he stole the lawn gnome. Babbette was so attached to that little gnome."  
  
"But he did give it back to her." Rory pointed out.  
  
She sighed quickly, "He crashed you car the night you were trying to help him study, then he left, went to New York and never even told you."  
  
"But then he came back within a couple weeks."  
  
"He...did a chalk outline and bothered Taylor."  
  
"He bothered Taylor. 'Nuff said."  
  
"He wouldn't call or come over when he said he would. Remember Dean's hockey game?"  
  
"But after that game I found out he hadn't called because he wanted to surprise me with concert tickets."  
  
"He did?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Oh-kay, uh, to me he was very rude, crude AND he had a tedency to brood."  
  
"He was angry at his mother for shipping him off because she didn't want to deal with- okay, now I'm feeling sorry for him."  
  
"He left you at your grandma's when he showed up with the black eye."  
  
"I didn't trust him, I'd have left me there too." Rory said.  
  
"He went to California without even bothering to tell you that he was never going to see you again. He didn't leave you any closure whatsoever and you wouldn't date any guy for a year after he left, because you were so afraid of getting hurt, because of him." she hit the one thing that was infallible.  
  
"You're right." Rory said. It worked. "You're right. He did do that. That did happen. Okay, I feel much worse."  
  
"Good?"  
  
"Very good."   
  
"'Kay, well, I'm going to get back to work if you're feeling better- or worse I guess."  
  
"Okay, thanks Mom." Rory said.  
  
"Anytime, sweetie. I'm your one stop Jess bashing shop."  
  
"I love you. Bye Mom." She hung up.  
  
Jess had heard the 'bye Mom' part. "Miss Gilmore," he greeted.  
  
"Hello." Rory responded.  
  
"Calling home?"  
  
"Yep, Mom." she said.  
  
"Huh."  
  
"Did you need something?" Rory asked.  
  
"No, this is a social call, just visiting old friends. Darn, I forgot your Hallmark card." he said sarcastically.  
  
"I think I'll survive somehow." she replied.  
  
"Oh good."  
  
"Yeah. Can I help you with something?" she asked after a couple seconds.  
  
"Nope. Not really."  
  
"Then what are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm bored,"  
  
"That's nice. Well, since your job is so boring, get a crossword puzzle book."  
  
"Good idea. It really is quite boring." he knew this was taunting her, 'cause he knew she wanted the job.  
  
"Well, I can't help you there, they gave YOU the job, twiddle your thumbs."  
  
"That's no fun." he said.  
  
"But this is?"   
  
"Yes, actually it is."  
  
"Well, I'm not bored."  
  
"Then how come you're calling home? Missing Booneville?"  
  
"Nope, missing LA?" she asked.  
  
"Nope, I didn't live in LA."  
  
"Oh, well, you didn't tell me and I didn't stalk you, so short of being able to spot a person in a location on the other side of the country, or being a mind reader, I couldn't have possibly known that."  
  
"I just love these friendly little exchanges."  
  
"Hey, you're the one that started playing pshycho boss."  
  
"What good is having power if you can't abuse it?"  
  
"Yes, well that's not everyone's twisted way of thinking."  
  
"Or it could be that you're slightly jealous."  
  
"Nope, mean people get promoted faster than nice people, so if you and I were in the running for the same job, it's only logical that you'd get it."   
  
"Ouch."  
  
"Don't tease."  
  
"Wow, you really do NOT like me today."  
  
Rory stood up, "I'm going to get coffee, do you want some?"  
  
"No thanks."  
  
"Okay." she walked off to get her coffee.  
  
*  
  
Claire came over to Rory. "What?"  
  
"Wow, I feel so welcome." Claire said.  
  
"Sorry, I'm in a bad mood."  
  
"Yeah, geeze you're moody today."  
  
"I am not. I'm just annoyed and busy, and Jess is bored and I have just about had it up to here with this day. I feel like a yo-yo, I'm going home and going to bed."  
  
"Wow, that good, huh?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Now, what was that about Jess?" Claire hid her smile.  
  
"Oh, well, Mr. Wonderful is apparently bored."  
  
"Now I'm Mr. Wonderful? I wish you'd make up your mind, you're confusing me." Jess smirked.  
  
"Claire, do you not know how to say 'he's right next to you'?" Rory shook her head.  
  
Claire just smiled.  
  
"So, which is it? Evil, awful or wonderful?"  
  
"Can I say all three?" Rory asked.  
  
"If you're extremely indecisive. Do I get to pick three adjectives to describe you?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Oh, I see how it is."  
  
"Not a two way street."  
  
"Well, that's not fair."  
  
"I know. If you want to pick three adjectives to describe me you have to say them when I'm not supposed to be listening, now what do you want?"  
  
"So, basically any time I'm talking to you?"  
  
"I listen to you." Rory argued.  
  
"Yeah right." he rolled his eyes.  
  
"I've always listened to you."  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
She was getting frustrated. "I have. If I didn't listen to you, I wouldn't know how you take your coffee."  
  
"Whatever you say." he turned to walk away, hiding his amusement and knowing she'd follow him.  
  
"I do!" she grabbed some papers and followed him.  
  
"I know, I'm just teasing you, calm down." Claire rolled her eyes, not that they noticed.  
  
"You're impossible." she said. He sat down and she just stood there arms crossed.  
  
"I know, it's one of the things you love about me." he smirked.  
  
"I'm not going to comment on that."  
  
"What? You said you were close to falling in love with me, you weren't just getting my hopes up for nothing now were you?"  
  
"You're so infuriating."  
  
"I know, no one can annoy you like I can."  
  
"That's very true." Rory agreed.  
  
"You just agreed with me."  
  
"I am not ever going to admit that."  
  
Claire sighed, "Geeze, you two are annoying."  
  
"I know." they both said in unison.  
  
"Aww, how cute." she teased.  
  
"Don't you have to get Andy coffee or something?" Jess asked.  
  
"Nope," she smiled, "He's busy, I could stand here and watch you two pretend you don't like eachother all day." she said.  
  
"Claire." Rory and Jess said in unison again, then looked at eachother.  
  
She smiled. "You know, you guys kind of remind me of what you've told me about how your Mom and Luke used to act."  
  
Rory gaped at her, "Do NOT compare him and me to Luke and Mom . That's just wrong."  
  
"Uh huh. I'm going now, I can only take so much." she said.  
  
A very flustered Rory rolled her eyes, shoved some papers at the amused Jess and walked out to her cubicle and started typing furiously on her keyboard.  
*  
  
When she got home Shelly was there.  
  
"I do not like him."  
  
"Bad day?" Shelly turned the TV off.  
  
Rory grumbled. "Claire is really starting to bug me. I want to go to bed and not wake up until next year."  
  
"Oh, it's Claire's fault?" she picked up the control up to turn the TV back on.  
  
"Well, her and Jess." Rory said.  
  
"Oh." she put the control back down and looked up at Rory, "Continue."  
  
"She compared us to Mom and Luke, I'm disturbed."  
  
"Ooh, already?"  
  
"Already? She's full of it. We're at eachother's throats constantly."  
  
"Bo and Hope used to be too."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"On Days Of Our Lives. But now they're married."  
  
"And that has what to do with me?"  
  
"You and Jess, you" she did air quotes,"don't like" she put her hands down, "eachother."  
  
"We really don't like eachother, there's no hidden soap opera thing there. We just don't like eachother, enemies like eachother more."  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"I don't understand why no one believes me. It's not like we even had feelings that deep for eachother all those years ago, let alone now."  
  
"Yeah right." Shelly stood up. "I have to speak up here. If that's not the biggest lie I've heard since Michael Jackson only had three plastic surgeries, I don't know what is. Maybe you haven't noticed, but you definitely cared deeply for this guy, if not NOW then you did."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"Because, in case you haven't noticed, for the past four days Jess is all you've talked about," Shelly stepped forward, Rory frowned and backed up, "all you've thought about," Shelly stepped forward and Rory backed up again, "he's the only male name you've spoken since you saw him again." She stepped forward and Rory went to step back but was out of room so she fell on the couch. "Not a day goes by that you don't think about him. You are not going to tell me that even though the guy has been the only thing other than coffee occupying your mind this week, you don't care about him."  
  
Rory didn't know how to respond, she just crossed her arms,"He is not all that occupies my mind."  
  
"That's funny, 'cause he's all you've talked about."  
  
"Not tr-"  
  
"And there are many witnesses that would attest to that."  
  
Rory thought about this for a second, "That's only because he's driving me nuts."  
  
"Ror, you know I'm right. If you like the guy then tell him, or do something. Not that it isn't fun to watch your head rotate as you try to convince us both that you don't like him, it is, but I think you know you like him."  
  
"I DON'T like him." Shelly wasn't convinced. "I don't."  
  
"I know he hurt you-"  
  
"No, he didn't. I mean, okay, he kind of did. But he doesn't have that much- you know what? I'm bored, we need to do something. I want to think about something other than work."  
  
"It's not just work."  
  
"Yes, it is."  
  
"So, it's strictly 'hi sir, do you need anything?' then 'yes please, can you book this meeting?'"  
  
"Well..." Then she thought of the inexplicable friendly looks today, the getting his coffee before he even asked, her mom saying she didn't want her to fall for the Run Away Rebel. Oh my gosh, she thought. I am not going to fall for... "We're going out tomorrow night."  
  
"What?" Shelly asked confused.  
  
"Tomorrow Lane's band has an opening gig, we're going."  
  
"We are?" Shelly asked.  
  
"Yes, I don't want to go alone."  
  
"I have plans with James."  
  
"Invite him along. Come on, it'll be fun."  
  
"I'm not sure where this is coming from, but we don't go to those things, all people ever do at those grand opening parties is promote their business and shop around for their next mate."  
  
"So? If you don't want to go you don't have to, I guess I could go alone."  
  
"No way are you going alone. But why do you want to go?"  
  
"Lane's my friend, and you never know, maybe I'll meet somone I like."  
  
"I've got to learn to keep my mouth shut." Shelly rolled her eyes, "Fine, James and I will tag along, but we're leaving early. You're not going for Lane, because if that were the reason you'd just go to their concert."  
  
"Okay, so tomorrow night we're going out, and it'll be fun."  
  
"Mmm hmm, fun fun fun. I liked it better when you just thought incessantly about Jess."  
  
"I have thought about him enough in the past 6 years. Now, I'm going to shower, then go to bed and endure the last day of work this week."  
  
"Okay, so your out of the blue urge to go find a distraction- oops, I mean go have fun at a party has nothing to do with the whole 'Not a day goes by that you don't live, think, talk and breathe Jess' thing, right?"  
  
Rory just smiled, "I'm going to go take a shower."  
  
"Fine, I'll call James and tell him we're going to the mosh pit."  
  
Rory went to take her shower, and her mind off Jess. She was done thinking about Jess, she'd had enough of him for one lifetime. Right?  
  
*  
  
A/N: I'm ending it here, I'll try to update soon! Next chapter they go to the party and Rory tries to forget about Jess. PLEASE REVIEW!!~ Thank you to all my reviewers! I hope you liked this chapter, I have many ideas for the future but I don't want to rush the story. Sorry this chapter was a little long, I just started typing and my fingers wouldn't stop! Please review, I'll be forever grateful! 


	6. Some Things Never Change

Disclaimer: I only own the characters I made up! And I'm making up more in this chapter!  
  
A/N: Thank you so much to all my reviewers!!   
  
Thanks to everyone but also to Blondie: Actually I hadn't intended on bringing Jess to the party, but when I read your review I thought about it and I found a way to use that with my original idea and make it better! So thank you so much for suggesting it!!*!!*!! Just wanted to give you credit for that so people didn't think I was the mastermind and it was a coincidence! I'm not and it wasn't! But thank you!  
  
And JessTristanLuver4Ever: Luke and Lorelai do have a two-year-old little girl named Mallory. Sorry I didn't mention it but it hasn't come up yet, however it will come up in a future chapter!  
  
And Samantha: Thank you for your reviews Co-Queen!:) They actually pushed me to update this now! So, of COURSE you're not annoying me! Sometimes I need a SLIGHT push..lol...this is true!Oh, and the 'This Is Hell' Elvis Costello thing, it saved about a million brain cells! So thanky for that, too!  
  
*  
  
The next day at work Rory was torturing Andy about something, "Come on, it'd be fun, admit it."  
  
"It would not be fun. I'll admit nothing." he said. Claire was watching, waiting to see how long it would take for Andy to crack. Jess was doing something with papers but he was listening too.  
  
"You're no fun." she smiled sweetly, "Look," she pointed to her face. "How can you say no to that?"  
  
"Very carefully. No." he said.  
  
Rory pouts, "My prettiness is wearing off."  
  
  
  
"No, it's not. I'm just growing immune." Andy said.  
  
  
  
She smiles, "You think I'm pretty?"  
  
  
  
Andy realizes what he said, and looked around as to look for help.  
  
  
  
Jess was standing there. "You walked right into that one." he says as he shakes his head and straightens some papers. Not even looking at Rory or Andy.  
  
  
  
"Yeah, I did, didn't I? Is that preventable?" Andy asked him.  
  
  
  
"Usually, but occasionally even I did stuff like that." Jess admitted.  
  
  
  
"Yeah right, you're the master at avoiding walking into situations, when did you ever walk into anything?" Rory asked.  
  
  
  
"One time was the picnic basket auction thing."  
  
  
  
"When?" she asked.  
  
  
  
"When you asked why I was only nice to you."  
  
  
  
"Right, and you accidentally told me instead of being sarcastic, but then you got all evasive and started talking about pizza." she remembered. She accidentally got a slightly whistful look.  
  
  
  
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were getting nostalgic." Jess said.  
  
  
  
She snapped back to reality and put her guard up, "Well then, it's a good thing you know better."  
  
  
  
Claire's watching with interest.  
  
  
  
"Show's over." Rory told her.  
  
  
  
"Hey, you won't tell me a thing about him, you guys have a history and no one's talking, so when I get a chance to eavesdrop I have to take full advantage." she defended.  
  
Rory rolled her eyes, sighed, and went back to work.  
  
*  
  
After work Rory went home and started raiding her closet. She wanted to forget about Jess and go have fun at the party. At a party there's no way her mind could wander off to Jess. Or so she thought. She pulled out a pretty white dress, It went to just above her knees, it didn't have sleeves, the straps were tied at the shoulder, for decoration only. It was beautiful.   
  
"Whoa, is that what you're wearing?" Shelly asked.  
  
"Yeah, do you like it?"  
  
"Yeah, it's beauitiful, but you'll probably be the only person there dressed in white."  
  
Rory smiled, "Well, at least I'll have one other person in white."  
  
"Who?" Shelly frowned, "You know someone else going? Then why am I going?"  
  
"You are the person I know who's going."  
  
"Oh no. You made me go, but there's no way you're making me wear a white dress. I don't want to stick out like a sore thumb." Shelly argued.  
  
They walked into Shelly's room. "Oh, come on, I'm sure you have something."  
  
"Rory, I'm not wearing a white dress." Shelly said.  
  
10 minutes later they emerged, Shelly dressed in a white knee length dress with a white cardigan over it.  
  
"I can't believe that you talked me in to wearing this." Shelly complained.  
  
"It's pretty." Rory smiled.  
  
"We're going to be the only ones there in white. It's a rock concert, lots of black."  
  
"We're special. Now I have to go do my hair."  
  
"You're mean."  
  
"So's J- uh, well, that's okay." Rory quickly escaped to the bathroom.  
  
"You're a perfect couple!" Shelly called after her, then retreated to the livingroom to pout.  
  
Rory pulled her hair up into an easy up 'do. She pinned her hair in several little twists and left about three inches of hair hanging loose on each one, with one strand of hair left down on each side of her face. She walked down the hall toward Shelly. "I'm ready, when's James getting here?" she asked. She looked up, "Oh, hi, James."  
  
"Hi, Rory." James was a couple inches taller than Rory with dark hair and blue eyes.  
  
"You haven't been waiting too long have you?" she asked.  
  
"Nope, just got here." he replied.  
  
Rory grabbed her little white purse. "Shelly, are you ready?"  
  
"Your hair looks better than mine too." she pouted, "I don't like you tonight."  
  
Rory smiled. "Come on poutie, we have to go stick out like sore thumbs."  
  
"Fine." Shelly grabbed a white crochet looking purse. "Let's go."  
  
*  
  
Soon they were at the party and Rory was waiting to wish Lane good luck. "Hey!" Lane ran over to her.  
  
"Lane!" Rory smiled. They hugged.  
  
"You came!"  
  
"Of course I came."  
  
"You never come to these. You come to concerts."  
  
"Yeah. So, how's Dave?" she changed the subject.  
  
"I'm good." Dave walked up behind Lane and wrapped his arms around her.  
  
"Hi, Dave. You guys look like rock stars." Rory teased.  
  
"I wonder why." Dave played along.  
  
"Because we are!" Lane smiled.  
  
They all talked for a few minutes then Rory saw something she didn't want to see.  
  
"Oh my gosh, hide me." she pulled Dave in front of her.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
Lane just stared at her.   
  
"Jess is here. Jess was not supposed to be here."  
  
"Jess!?! The Jess?" Lane asked.  
  
"Jess." Rory varified.  
  
"What is Jess doing in New York?" Lane asked.  
  
"Jess is here?" Dave asked, "Cool, where is he?"  
  
"We don't like Jess." Lane told him.  
  
"Oh, right, damn, Jess is here."  
  
Rory smiled. "Jess is back. He, uh, works at CNN actually."  
  
"You work at CNN." Lane said.  
  
"Yeah, I know, he's my boss."  
  
Lane's eyes got huge. "How did you not tell me this?!?"  
  
"I was trying to forget about it tonight. Apparently it didn't work."  
  
"You know, it'll only be so long before he notices you, you're the only person in a white dress." Lane said.  
  
"No, I made my roommate wear white too." Rory said.  
  
"Okay, you're one of two people in white." Lane said.   
  
"Who cares? I'm not thinking about him tonight. So, where are Zach and Brian?"  
  
"Oh, Brian's hyperventilating, Zach's trying to calm him down." Lane said.  
  
"But you guys have performed many times before. Why would he do it now?" Rory said.  
  
"Oh, they do this every show." Lane nodded.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Yeah, it was amusing the first 7 times, but then it got kind of annoying." Dave said.  
  
"Oh." Rory said again.  
  
"I can't breathe, I can't breathe." Brian raced past them Zach in tow.  
  
"Yes, you can. Chill out, dude."  
  
"I'm dying." Brian insisted. Lane and Dave just watched them go by.  
  
"I wanted to say hi." Rory said.  
  
"Oh, you'll get to. When we take our break he'll be fine." Lane said.  
  
"Oh, I see." Rory said.  
  
"Now, the first time we performed he was freaking out even more at our break." Lane said.  
  
"Why?" Rory asked.  
  
"Because when he tried to change his shirt, his shirt got caught on his glasses, and he can't breathe very well anyway, but when the shirt was covering his face he thought his air got completely cut off and he went running through the aisle's screaming 'get it off, get it off' and people thought he was saying 'we rock, we rock' and then they all started chanting with him and it gave us our gimmick." Lane explained.  
  
"So, that's why people do that." Rory said.  
  
"Yep, it was all a misunderstanding, but we weren't going to say that." Dave said.  
  
"Naturally." Rory nodded.  
  
"But hey, we're about to go on, so we've got to get backstage." Lane said.  
  
"Oh, okay. Well, I'll see you guys at your break." Rory hugged Lane once more. "Good luck!"  
  
Rory didn't see Jess but she wandered her way back to Shelly and James.   
  
"You're never going to believe who's here." Rory said.  
  
"Jess."  
  
Her jaw dropped, "How'd you know?" Rory asked.  
  
Shelly's jaw dropped, "Jess is really here?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh," she turned to James. "Jess is here." she told him. "Jess is here?" she asked facing Rory.  
  
"Yes. Jess is here."  
  
"Wow." Shelly said.  
  
"Who's Jess?" James asked.  
  
"The guy I told you about." she said eyeing him up.  
  
"Oh, the guy that Rory's preten-" Shelly cut him off with a kiss.   
  
"Shut up, honey." she said, then turned back to Rory. "You have to show me." she said.  
  
"The guy that I'm what?" she asked.  
  
"Pretty negative about." Shelly said. "Where is he?"  
  
"I don't know, I lost him. I was busy not thinking about him."   
  
"We're going to find him." she said.  
  
"How? He's wearing normal clothes, he won't stick out like a sore thumb." Rory said. "Besides, I don't want to run into him, if I'm lucky I won't see him again. Ever, but since that's unlikely, tonight."  
  
"Okay, well, when you see him make sure to bring him by." Shelly winked.  
  
"You're hilarious." Rory said flatly.  
  
"I know." Shelly smiled before starting into the crowd with James.  
  
Rory went over to the drinks table, but she stopped when she almost ran into Paris. "Paris?" Rory asked in shock.  
  
"Hey, Rory." she greeted.  
  
"Wow, you came to this?" this wasn't Paris' type of thing.  
  
"Yeah. Alan wanted to come."  
  
"Oh, I've yet to meet him. Where is he?" she asked, expecting someone more like Paris.  
  
"Right here." She turned and grabbed a blonde guy that looks so not Paris' type.  
  
"Hey." The guy half nodded.  
  
"H-hi. It's nice to meet you." Rory hid her surprise.  
  
"Same here." he nodded and turned back to whoever he was talking to before.  
  
"He seems nice." Rory offered a smile. "How'd you guys meet?"  
  
"I was giving a speech at an assembly and after it was over we just sort of ran into each other, we started talking and it turned out I knew his sister, she was a lot like me. Well, his sister kept kind of pushing us together and soon he asked me out and I actually realized he was asking me out this time, and we've been together ever since." she said.  
  
"Wow, that's a nice story. So, how are you?"  
  
"I'm good. How are you?"  
  
"I'm hanging in there."  
  
"How's work?" she asked.  
  
"Work's...interesting."  
  
"And Jess?" Paris asked.  
  
"He's...Jess."  
  
"That says a lot."  
  
"Doesn't it though. He's here. At this party." Rory said.  
  
"Are you serious?" she asked.  
  
"As a heart attack."   
  
"Where is he?"  
  
"I don't know. I saw him earlier," she said.  
  
"You guys talked?"  
  
"No, I kind of hid behind Dave." Rory said.  
  
"Who's Dave?" Paris asked.  
  
"Oh, um, one of the guys from the band. Lane's boyfriend."  
  
"Oh, right, this is Lane's band."  
  
"Yeah. Well, I'm really thirsty, so..."  
  
"Oh, the drink table's over there. I think I'll get something too." Paris said.  
  
"Oh, okay." Rory waited for Paris to tell her boyfriend then they went in search of the table.  
  
"Over there- isn't that Jess?" Paris asked pointing toward the table.  
  
Rory's head whipped up and looked in the direction of where Paris pointed. Jess was standing there with a girl, a blonde girl. "Yeah." Rory said, and she felt a ping of something. Jealousy? No, she quckly pushed that thought out of her head. "It looks like it is."  
  
"Who's the girl?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Maybe it's his girlfriend. Does he have one?" Paris asked.  
  
"I don't know." The girl laughed at something he said, and she leaned in and touched his arm. "To the untrained, poorly trained, or half trained eye it would seem like it." Rory said.  
  
"You okay?" Paris asked.  
  
"Of course I'm okay." Rory gave a fake smile.  
  
"You should go say hi." Paris offered.  
  
"No, thank you. Jess and Blondie can flirt all they want. I am not going to think about Jess tonight. Why should I? He didn't say hi to me, of course I don't really know if he even saw me. But it doesn't matter. I'm not going to say hi, we don't have to say hi to each other. We don't like each other." Rory said.  
  
"I'll go with you."  
  
"I'm not going to say hi." she paused for a second, "Do you think I should?"  
  
"Yep." Paris said.  
  
"I can't. I don't have that right. Anymore." she mumbled the last part quietly.  
  
"Fine, but you have a right to go get a drink. It's pathetic that you're just waiting here, for what, him to leave? You see the guy five days a week. Go get your drink, if you accidetally bump into Jess, then you do. If you don't well, you can at least see if he's acknowledging your existence." she said.  
  
"You're right. I'm going to get a drink." Rory said.  
  
"It's not Mount Everest."  
  
They went to walk over to the drink table. "You know, I'm not really all that thirsty."  
  
"Yes, you are."  
  
"And I don't want to see him tonight."  
  
"Yes, you do."  
  
"And he's busy flirting with the girl, I don't want to interrupt."  
  
"Yes, you DO." she pushed Rory up to the table.  
  
In pushing the reluctant Rory, Rory knocked right into Jess. "Gee, thanks Paris." murmered Rory, "Sorry." she said to Jess, but secretly hoped he'd at least say something sarcastic.  
  
"It's okay." he said, then turned back to the blond girl. Rory would never admit it, but this bugged her. A lot. She felt ignored. By Jess. Paris could see it. But then Paris saw the smirk on Jess' face which had nothing to do with whatever the blonde happened to be saying.   
  
"Hey, Ror, isn't that Jennifer Aniston?" Paris pointed to a spot in the crowd.  
  
The blonde gasped, "Jennifer Aniston? We should go see if we can find her!" she said excitedly to Jess.  
  
"That's okay, I'm good." he said, not believing that she actually fell for that.  
  
"But I wanna see." she whined.  
  
"Well then, go see."  
  
"Okay." she smiled, "I'll be back." and she bounced off to go find Jennifer Aniston.  
  
"Well, it's good to see you at least flirt with girls of your intelligence level." Paris said to Jess.  
  
"I wasn't flirting with her, she was flirting with me. I was simply cooperating."  
  
  
  
"Right," Paris said.  
  
"But why do you care? Jealous?" he smirked.  
  
"Oh yes, that's it. I'm insanely jealous, for some reason all those years ago when I found out you actually like the waste of a writer Jack Kerouac, not to mention Rory, I fell head over heels in love with you. I feel so much better now that I've told you." she replied.  
  
"You still don't like Jack Kerouac?"  
  
"Never have, never will. But I doubt she knows how to spell it." she nodded toward where the blonde was pecking on the shoulder of every woman with Jennifer Aniston's hair color. "She's a real prize. Now, I'm going to leave you two idiots here." she grabbed a drink.  
  
"We just re-met and I'm already an idiot?" Jess asked.  
  
"You're both idiots." Paris said to Rory and Jess.  
  
"Hey, Ror, Hi...Jess? Hi, girl calling them idiots." Shelly said.  
  
"Hey, Shel." Rory said.  
  
"That's Jess?" James asked Shelly.  
  
"Yeah, I'm Jess. Who the hell are you people and how do you know me?"  
  
"Hi, I'm Shelly, Rory's roommate." Shelly put her hand out to shake his.  
  
"Hi," he replied shaking her hand.   
  
"Hi," Shelly turned to Paris. "Who are you? Girlfriend?"  
  
"God, no." said Jess and Paris in unison.  
  
"No, I'm Paris, a friend of Rory's."  
  
Shelly puts her hand out to shake Paris'. Paris just stares for a second, "I've gotta go see Alan." and she walked off.  
  
Shelly stood there, "Wow, she's friendly."  
  
"Yeah, that's Paris." Rory explained. "Okay, now everybody knows everybody, I'm gonna get my drink and leave."  
  
"Oh, no you don't." Jess said.  
  
Shelly smiled, "We'll leave. Nice to meet you." she turned and went off into the crowd again.  
  
"So, what's with you two wearing white dresses? Looking for your next husbands?"   
  
"Of course, know of any good candidates? Why am I not leaving?"  
  
"Because, your friend stole my company, now I'm bored." he said.  
  
"Well, talk to your cup, it'll probably make more interesting conversation than her anyway."  
  
"Huh, don't like Cindy?"  
  
"I don't know her. I mean, I think she looks like Claire. Only Claire has a boyfriend. Then again, Cindy might too, how am I supposed to know?"  
  
"Claire has a boyfriend?" he asked surprised.  
  
"Yep, she's just a natural born flirt."  
  
"I noticed." he said.  
  
"Well, I came here to get my mind off of work, so..."  
  
"Oh, well how's life without work?"  
  
"Good." Or at least it was a week ago, she thought. "How 'bout you?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"You claim you weren't flirting with Blondie, how come?"  
  
"Do I have to have a reason?"  
  
"Most guys would have to." she didn't want to ask the next question, but she coudn't stop herself. "What, do you have a girlfriend or fiancee` or something?" she asked it, wishing she wouldn't have but wanting to know.  
  
"Yeah right. That's a pretty dumb question."  
  
This made her mad, "Right, you're not good with commitment, are you? You're right, how absolutely rediculous, the thought that you might actually have a girlfriend, sorry, my mistake." she said sarcastically.  
  
"I just meant I only got to New York a few days ago and California's on the other side of the country. So if I did, do you seriously think we'd still be together now that I'm here?"  
  
"That depends, does she know you're gone?" and she walks off without waiting for a reply. She was more mad at him now than she was before they talked. He had his nerve snapping at her. She accidentally walked right into some guy. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."  
  
"It's o-" he faced her, "Hi,"  
  
She smiled. "Hi,"  
  
"I'm Mark."  
  
"Hi, Mark, I'm Rory."  
  
  
  
"Having fun?" he asked.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Are you?"  
  
"I am now." he replied.  
  
At first she smiled and instinctively wanted to leave, but then remebered Jess. This is the perfect way to get my mind off Jess, she thought. "Good."  
  
Mark and Rory talked for a few minutes before Shelly saw her, frowned, and walked over to her. "Hey,"  
  
"Hey, Shel,"  
  
"Um, we were going to leave." Shelly said, glancing at the guy.  
  
"Oh, okay." Rory said, "Well, it was nice talking to you." she said to the guy.  
  
"Same here. Do you think I could get your number? Maybe we could go out sometime." he said.  
  
Rory didn't even think before responding, "Sure."  
  
Shelly stared at her.   
  
Rory ignored Shelly and gave Mark her phone number, "Make sure you use that."  
  
Again, Shelly stared at her in shock, then pulled her arm to drag her away.  
  
"Oh, I will." he called after her.  
  
"Okay, who are you, and what have you done with Rory?" Shelly asked.  
  
"Rory's right here." she said.  
  
"No, because Rory would never be that flirty. What did Jess say?"  
  
"Not much, he's the same old Jess." Rory rolled her eyes.  
  
"Well, you fell for him then." Shelly retorted with a smirk.  
  
Rory glared at her, "Not anymore." she said, "Besides, if I still cared about Jess, would I have given Mark my number?" Rory asked, as if it were common sense to say no.  
  
"Yep." Shelly replied and dragged Rory to James.  
  
They left, and even though she was trying not to, Rory couldn't stop thinking about Jess. She sighed, thinking trying not to think of him was hopeless...but then she remembered Mark. A small grin took place on her face. Not Jess, Mark.  
  
**  
  
A/N: Wow, I know, I took FOREVER to update! I'm sooo sorry about that! I'll beg and grovel if you want me to!  
  
Anyhoo, please review, I'm really sorry, I'm going to try to get into a more consistent updating pattern again. PLEASE REVIEW!! Thank you to all of my reviewers! You're all great! Sorry, I won't take so long next time!! :) 


	7. And the Plot Thickens!

Disclaimer:I own Mark, feel free to harm him if you want, *turns head and whistles*  
  
A/N:Sorry, I'm horrible, I didnt mean to take so long but computers and writer's block and...bad things! I was completely cursed. But remember back in the 4th chapter when I said before this year is over? I think I lied. I don't think it'll be finished by the end of the year. It's not possible, I have too much planned! Thank you so much to all my reviewers!!! You guys rock! I'm sorry it took so long! Bill sucks!  
  
Gabi: I had to write a note to you, you reviewed twice!! For one chapter! I'm sorry it took so long, my computer crashed, it was being horrible, then when I got my computer back I had writer's block and I wanted to update sooner but I was afraid it would suck! I'm sorry!  
  
memememe: Silly, I'm me, I hate Mark, too! Don't worry, it'll give you wrinkles *nods* Sorry, I'm done being annoying. But yeah, don't worry!:) I'm a totally faithful Literati!  
  
***  
  
Monday at work Rory wanted to avoid Jess for fear of biting his head off, but she couldn't. He was her boss.  
  
"Oh, Miss Gilmore," he called.  
  
She resisted the urge to growl at him, "Yes?"  
  
"Could you take this to Claire?" he handed her a paper.  
  
"Yes,"  
  
"Have a nice weekend?"  
  
"Yes,"  
  
"Do you know any words besides yes?"  
  
"Yes, but I'm not going to waste them on you. I'll get this to Claire," she said, walking away from him and straight to Claire avoiding anyone in the hallway. Oh how she hated that he worked there.  
  
Claire smiled, "For me? You shouldn't have,"  
  
"I didn't, they're from Jess and they're for Andy,"  
  
"You look grumpy,"  
  
"I didn't get a lot of sleep last night," Rory said.  
  
"How come? Dreaming of Jess?"  
  
"Ha! He wishes."  
  
"That's a no? Or is that a 'yes, I was but I have to deny it because I'm still pretending I hate him'?" she asked.  
  
Rory glared at her, "See you at lunch,"  
  
Claire smiled, "Bye Lorelai,"  
  
**  
  
At lunch Rory was waiting for Claire at her desk. And waiting, then she waited some more. It was a very eventful few minutes.  
  
"Hey," Jess greeted.  
  
"Hi, Mr. Mariano,"  
  
"You know you're not punishing me when you say that, right?" he asked.  
  
"I'm trying ot wait for Claire and salvage my lunch hour and you're really ruining this insanely boring do-nothing session, so if you could turn around and maybe walk at least 50 feet in that direction, that would be great, thank you."  
  
"I like standing here,"  
  
"Well, I probably can't stop you," Rory sighed.  
  
"Probably not," Jess agreed.  
  
After a moment of standing there doing nothing she couldn't take it anymore, "If Claire comes over here tell her I left," she said, walking away.  
  
"No, I am not going to deliver your message, sorry. I need to eat, I'm hungry,"  
  
"Well, so am I so she'll just have to figure it out," Rory stepped into the elevator.  
  
He got in the elevator, she immediately wished she would've taken the stairs.  
  
The elevator stopped and the both got out, she walked out of the building deciding since Claire was MIA and she'd be eating lunch alone that she'd go to her favorite little diner. Well, her favorite in New York, that is.  
  
"Where you going?"  
  
"To lunch," she replied, "you should try it, there's a nice place in that direction," she said pointing in the opposite direction that she was going.  
  
"Then why are you going this way?"  
  
"Because I don't like nice places, I like trashy places, you actually get the food out of a trash can,"  
  
"Sounds fun,"  
  
She stopped abruptly. "No, you have invaded my work place, you invaded my time-away-from-Jess space at the concert, you're everywhere, you won't go away. You are NOT going to my one little corner of the world. I don't go there with anybody, it's mine. All mine. I am not sharing with you."  
  
"Someone didn't learn how to share." he said, smirking.  
  
"I'm serious, back off the diner,"  
  
"It's a diner?"  
  
"No, I didn't mean that, I meant the trash buffet,"  
  
"Huh, it just so happens that I love trash buffets," he said.  
  
"Jess," she pleaded.  
  
He chuckled, "Okay, okay, I'll go somewhere else,"  
  
"Don't laugh at me," she frowned.  
  
"I can't help it, you're getting so territorial over a diner,"  
  
"Trash buffet,"  
  
"Oh, trash buffet, sorry," he rolled his eyes.  
  
"Well...it's mine, not yours, not Claire's, I don't know anyone there, I can just go there and read or not read or whatever and I don't want you there, it's distracting."  
  
"I'm distracting?"  
  
"No, I didn't mean that you're distracting in the way that...I just meant...go away Jess!"  
  
He smirked, "Fine, I'll go find my own place where I won't distract you,"  
  
"Good,"  
  
"But it's good to know I'm so distracting," he replied, smirking before he walked off.  
  
"Not like that!" she called after him, but he was already gone. "Jerk," she rolled her eyes and continued to her diner.  
  
**  
  
Later at work Rory got back to see Claire waiting by Rory's desk.  
  
"If you're not dead the excuse isn't good enough," Rory informed her.  
  
"I know, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stand you up, but you know that guy that I've been flirting with? The one that sits about three desks away from me?"  
  
"Yes,"  
  
"Well, he asked me to lunch and I came over to tell you but I saw you were busy with Jess so I didn't want to interrupt,"  
  
"Always interrupt when you see me with Jess." Rory said.  
  
"Well, anyway, that's why,"  
  
"You have a boyfriend,"  
  
"So?"  
  
"So, you can't date another guy when you have a boyfriend, it's just not right."  
  
"Oh, what is right?"  
  
"Right is not dating another guy when you have a boyfriend," Rory stated.  
  
"Well, who wants to be right anyway?"  
  
"Apparently not you," Rory shrugged.  
  
"So, what were you doing with Jess -whom you supposedly hate- anyway?" she smiled.  
  
"Planning your murder, he's very good at that sort of thing," Rory said matter-of-factly.  
  
"Oh yes, all hot guys know how to murder," Claire mock agreed.  
  
"He is not hot,"  
  
"And the sky's not blue," Claire replied.  
  
You're right, it's polluted and grayish," Rory nodded.  
  
Claire rolled her eyes, "Whatever,"  
  
"Anyway, I have to get back to my master, he might need something and heaven forbid I'm not right there to serve him,"  
  
Claire smiled, "Bye,"  
  
**  
  
Later that day Rory got home, shuffling through the mail and leaving Shelly's on the table. She checked the machine, nothing.  
  
She sighed and flopped down on the couch, bad bad, Mom didn't call, this is great, she thought.  
  
Later that day Shelly got home, "My boss sucks, how about yours?"  
  
"Yeah, he tried to follow me,"  
  
"Ohh, stalkerish,"  
  
"No, not stalkerish, annoying,"  
  
"Ah, well please, let me get some popcorn and you can tell me more," she smiled, heading to the kitchen.  
  
"Wait, why are you getting popcron?" Rory asked following her.  
  
"Because, your life's like daytime TV, it's great,"  
  
"I want popcorn, too, and my life is not like that. I have a wicked boss who just so happens to be my ex-boyfriend and he won't stay away from me which is probably because of the whole him being my boss thing and Claire is evil, it's just a mess, but it's not daytime TV,"  
  
"You just named off a few soap storlylines, if Jess kidnaps you we're good to go,"  
  
"You're weird," Rory nodded.  
  
"I know, thanks," Shelly nodded, grabbing some popcorn out of the cupboard.  
  
A few minutes later Rory and Shelly were settled in on the couch with popcorn, "Okay, now start at your first encounter of the day,"  
  
"Nothing exciting, he called me Miss Gilmore again adn mae me take some papers to Claire then she tried to say I was dreaming about him or something stupid. At lunch Claire stood me up for some guy who asked her to lunch, leaving me with the Wicked Boss of the East because he wouldn't even leave, then when I went to leave, he was magically hungry, so then he followed me out and I thought I was going to have to go somewhere else because I was sure he'd follow me and he's not allowed to know where my place is because then he could go there and then it wouldn't be my place anymore and the coffee probably wouldn't even taste good anymore. So anyway, I finally pleaded with him to leave and he laughed at me, but he did leave, so I got to eat in peace and then yell at Claire when I got back to the office."  
  
"I wish I could get one of those bosses," Shelly said.  
  
"What kind? Evil?"  
  
"No, the kind that's totally in love with me," she replied, stifling her smirk with popcorn.  
  
"What?" Rory exclaimed.  
  
"Yeah, Jess," she nodded, "He's totally in love with you,"  
  
"He is not,"  
  
"He is, and he's adorable, you should keep him," Shelly nodded.  
  
"He's not a puppy,"  
  
"No, but if he were you'd keep him,"  
  
"No, I'm not an animal person," Rory shook her head.  
  
"But he's a cute puppy, you could become an animal person,"  
  
"But I wouldn't even try,"  
  
"Fine, spoil my fun," Shelly rolled her eyes.  
  
"Well, it doesn't matter, we don't even like each other,"  
  
Shelly laughed, "Yeah, uh huh, right,"  
  
"What?" Rory frowned.  
  
"Nothing, you might want to go back to Yale, they didn't teach you as much as you hoped they would," Shelly informed her.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Well, it's so completely obvious to the whole world around you-"  
  
The phone rang.  
  
"You get it, I'm eating. Unless it's James, then I'm not, I'm just being beautiful," Shelly said.  
  
Rory sighed, standing up to answer the phone, "Hello?"  
  
"Hi, is Rory there?"  
  
"I'm Rory, who is this?" she frowned.  
  
"It's Mark,"  
  
"Oh, Mark, hi," she smiled.  
  
"Hey, I told you I'd call,"  
  
"And now here you are, calling," she nodded.  
  
"Yep,"  
  
"I'm glad,"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Yeah," she said, walking into her room.  
  
*  
  
A few minutes later Rory emerged from her room with a smile on her face as she hung up the phone.  
  
"What did he want?" Shelly asked.  
  
"I have a date with Mark, Saturday night," she replied, going in the kitchen to find something to eat.  
  
Shelly's eyes widened, "And the plot thickens," she said and took another handful of popcorn into her mouth.  
  
***  
  
A/N: Guys, I took a rediculous amount of time to update! I'm so sorry!!! PLEASE REVIEW anyway, even if I do suck at updating, because I honestly didn't mean it! See? There was some R/J action...not a lot, I'll grant you that, but the date is coming up soon *evil grin* Please, please, please review!!! Thanky! 


	8. Making A Mark

Disclaimer:I own Mark and Cidy, but I think they'll end up married with a million kids so if you want that many people, take them. The rest of the peeps belong to ASP and all of the evil people who got rid of Jess! Thanky to SAmi for helping me with the title!!:D  
  
A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I'm sorry it took longer than I tohught it would, but I kept leaving! Bad me!  
  
Luke Rules: Yeah, don't worry, I'll explain that, I intended to, but that's not for another chapter or two, so...But yeah, it will be explained, and also, he's not really that far up on the achievement latter, seriously, they're both in the beginning stages, he just got a break and she didn't. Thank you for reviewing and I'll explain more in an upcoming chapter!  
  
Okay, I was just thinking of my story, no idea why, and I was thinking about how I'm writing Rory and Jess...I have a question for you guys, do you think I'm writing Rory and Jess like Rory and Tristin? Because I didn't really think about it, I was just thinking about how they were in the beginning of season four, then I thought about how the basis of the whole Trory thing is they have an entire relationship based on hate. Then I thought of this. Then I freaked out and had to write this a/n, so could you please tell me if you think I'm writing this too Trory-like? Because if I'm going to do that it may as well be a Trory, *notices glaring* Sorry, that was a joke. *still seeing glares* Guys, it was a bad joke! I'm sorry! *dives into a ditch and hides* Just read it!  
  
***  
  
The next day at work Claire and Rory were talking, Jess came in and Rory pretended she didn't see him.  
  
"So, who is this guy?" Claire asked, continuing their conversation as if Jess didn't come in, after all, Rory said he was "no big deal."  
  
"No one," she mumbled, not wanting Jess to hear about him and not even knowing why.  
  
"He's not no one, you said you had a date and that's why you couldn't-"  
  
"Claire," Rory stopped her.  
  
"Date?" Jess asked.  
  
"Yeah, the date, today's date, it's my favorite combination of numbers. Really, who can beat...uh...today's date? See? You said nothing, there is no date that can beat it." Rory rambled.  
  
"You don't even know what today's date is, do you?" Jess asked.  
  
She looked at the ground, "No, not really, but as soon as I walk away I'll put it in a tape recorder and I will never again forget today's date."  
  
"Well, you can mark it down as the day you humiliated yourself in front of Jess because you didn't want him to know you have a date Saturday night." Claire said.  
  
"Not true, I couldn't care less if Jess knows. Jess, yeah, I have a date Saturday night. See? I'm not trying to keep it from him, now if you'll excuse me..." she stared at the ground and walked out of the lounge.  
  
"Date huh?" Jess asked.  
  
"Yep," Claire nodded. "His name's Mark,"  
  
"Huh,"  
  
"Yeah,"  
  
Jess, still staring where Rory had left so quickly, absentmindedly opened the packet and poured it in his coffee.  
  
Claire smirked, "Gonna put pepper in that too?"  
  
"What?" he asked, snapping back to reality. He looked at the empty packet and realized that he dumped salt in his coffee instead of sugar. "Oh, still deciding, any opinion?"  
  
"It probably wouldn't be as sweet," she said with a smile.  
  
"Yeah, salt and pepper coffee, probably not how Starbuck's came about,"  
  
"Probably not," she agreed as she shook her head with a smile and walked out just as Andy was walking in, "He so likes her," Claire said before walking off.  
  
*  
  
The week flew by quickly and before she knew it she was getting ready to go with Mark Saturday night.  
  
"Shelly, did you 'borrow' my shoes again?"  
  
"Uh...no,"  
  
"That was not a very convincing no," Rory said.  
  
"I didn't borrow them, I swear on my black sneakers!"  
  
"You hate your black sneakers."  
  
"Oh....right."  
  
"Look in your closet, see if the shoe fairy put them in there again,"  
  
"I'll look, you know, that fairy sure likes to frame me, they're probably- oh look! Here they are! It's that stupid fairy," Shelly shook her head.  
  
"I'm sure," Rory shot her a look. "Tell your fairy to stay out of my closet unless it asks first,"  
  
"I'll leave a note," Shelly nodded.  
  
*  
  
There was a knock at the door.  
  
"That's probably him," Shelly said.  
  
"Really? 'Cause I thought it was the pizza delivery guy, I hear he's a solid nine,"  
  
"Haha, quit being sarcastic or I won't answer the door and he'll be left out there until work on Monday,"  
  
"Fine, then I'll answer it," Rory shrugged.  
  
"You never answer the door when a guy comes over! Are you insane?"  
  
"Why not? You're supposed to leave him outside all night?"  
  
"No, you're supposed to have your friend let him in."  
  
"Well then, let him in,"  
  
"And you shouldn't be in here, go to your room,"  
  
"Yes, Mom,"  
  
"Rory,"  
  
"Just let him in," Rory rolled her eyes.  
  
"Fine," Shelly sighed, going to the door.  
  
Rory smoothed her skirt out and grabbed her cell phone, slipping it in her purse.  
  
Mark walked in after reciving a greeting from Shelly.  
  
"Hi, Mark,"  
  
"Hi," he smiled, "Are you ready?"  
  
"Yes, I am," she nodded, joining Mark and waving a goodbye to Shelly.  
  
*  
  
About 10 minutes after getting there Rory took a break to the ladies room where she pulled out her phone and called Lorelai.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"I forgot how much I hate dating,"  
  
"Rory?"  
  
"No, your other abnormal daughter who hates dating,"  
  
"Oh, hi Tory,"  
  
"Not funny,"  
  
"Sorry, what's wrong?"  
  
"Okay, I cannot believe I was stupid enough to do this again, I tought I'd sworn off dating. Dating sucks."  
  
"You didn't start talking about anything gross like the urine mints or the weird moles that-?"  
  
"No, I toned it down, I was just staring at the light and I babbled something about one aluminum can being enough energy to keep a 100 watt lightbulb running for 3 and a half hours,"  
  
"Oh, well if lights freak him out then you have a bigger problem than your rambling,"  
  
"That's true, but the point is that I rambled and I hate dating,"  
  
"Oh, hon, we all do,"  
  
"You hated dating Luke?"  
  
"Well...no, but he's Luke,"  
  
"Well, that doesn't help me," Rory pointed out.  
  
"Okay, go back out there avoid all gross topics, he doesn't need to know where babies come from, what happens to mints if he doesn't wash his hands after using the little boys' room or how many people die of liposuction every year,"  
  
"That was one time and that guy brought it up,"  
  
"Well, I'm just saying,"  
  
"Fine, I guess I'll go back out there,"  
  
"That's my girl. If it's too horrible take another bathroom break and call Shelly, she can come down with something very horrible that will make you have to go home,"  
  
"Except that she answered the door and he saw she was fine,"  
  
"Oh...well, she got Bumpitis and her finger will fall off if you don't get her to the hospital immediately, you can get Bumpitis in a matter of seconds,"  
  
"There's no such thing as Bumpitis,"  
  
"Blasphemy! You dear old mother almost lost her finger from that,"  
  
"Luke said you just bumped your finger on a door helping him carry a box,"  
  
"And THAT'S why you must make men carry boxes while you watch, let THEM get Bumpitits."  
  
"So, avoid gross topics, call Shelly and tell her she has an imaginary illness if it gets worse and if in any case a box needs carried make him do it?"  
  
"Exactly,"  
  
"Okay, fine. I'm going to go back out there before he thinks I got lost."  
  
"There was a long line,"  
  
"Okay, got it," Rory hung up.  
  
Rory sat down, "Sorry, there was a long line,"  
  
"Oh," he nodded in understanding.  
  
**  
  
A few minutes into their dinner Rory was bored out of her mind, Lord of the Rings, historical pro-wrestling conversation and monster truck babbling seemed so familiar...  
  
"Have you ever read Oliver Twist?" she asked.  
  
"I think I read it in school, but I don't remember liking it,"  
  
"Oh. What about Atlas Shrugged?"  
  
"What?" he frowned.  
  
"Taking that as a no. Um, who's your favorite author?"  
  
"I don't really have one," he said.  
  
"How about movies? Do you like John Hughes films?"  
  
"Uh, I saw St. Elmo's Fire, yeah, it was cool,"  
  
"I love John Hughes, with the exception of Maid in Manhattan he's wonderful,"  
  
"Yeah," he nodded, clearly uninterested.  
  
"What about music? Bjork, have you ever heard Bjork?"  
  
"What's a Bjork?"  
  
She paused for a second to see if he was serious. "Bjork? She sings; her music's great. You've never heard of Bjork?"  
  
He gave her a blank look.  
  
"What was that you were saying about The Rock?"  
  
"Oh, well..." and then he continued to ramble and she started comparing him to Dean. Dean won.  
  
**  
  
The waiter wouldn't even bring the food out for what seemed like hours, Rory was ready to say she wasn't hungry and go running out of the building. However that would be mean, so she suffered through the SECOND conversation about how much cooler Kane looked when he had the mask.  
  
Then she caught glance of something behind him and she stretched her neck to see more clearly.  
  
Her jaw dropped and apparently it went along with whatever Mark had been saying because he chuckled and said, "I know,"  
  
But she didn't care about --or even know-- what he was saying, she saw Jess walk in, and he had the ditzy blonde who thought Jennifer Aniston was at the concert!  
  
She quickly looked away when Jess glanced her way and noticed her.  
  
"Oh, I know," she smiled at whatever Mark said.  
  
"Do you? I didn't think you watched it, it was so long ago,"  
  
She bit her lip, "Uh, yeah, I did,"  
  
"Well, what did you think of it? I loved the whole concept."  
  
She pushed her hair behind her ear, "Well, I had sort of a split opinion, you know?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess it really depends on the person. Which characters did you like?"  
  
"Oh...well, the one...oh, what was her name?"  
  
"Her?" he frowned slightly.  
  
"I meant his," she corrected at his response.  
  
"Which one was he? I probably know his name, I was crazy about the show. I scared people," he smiled.  
  
"I'm...I think...I can't remember if it was his character or the actor...I think his name was...Ed, or Edward, or something like that,"  
  
"Ed?" he frowned.  
  
She grimaced, guessing that there wasn't an Ed in the show.  
  
"Do you mean Ted?"  
  
"Ted! Yeah, that's it," she nodded happily.  
  
"Wow, I wouldn't have thought you'd like him,"  
  
"No? Um, why not?"  
  
"Well, his character just seems....not what I thought you'd go for,"  
  
"Oh, well, he wasn't exclusively my favorite or anything, I just sort of liked him,"  
  
"I'm surprised."  
  
Rory took a sip of her wine, wishing the building would burn down so that they could leave.  
  
"Hello," she heard a voice greet.  
  
She glanced up, "Hey, Jess, hi...I'm sorry, I forgot your name, Cindy was it?"  
  
Jess smirked.  
  
"Yeah, I'm Cindy, you were at the concert weren't you?"  
  
"Yes." Rory glared at the arm Cindy had draped on Jess' arm.  
  
"So, this is your date?" Jess asked.  
  
"Yes, this is Mark, Mark, this is Jess," Rory introduced. "And Cindy," she added as an afterthought.  
  
"Hey," he offered a smile.  
  
"Hi," the bubbly blonde greeted.  
  
Jess just nodded.  
  
"So, I didn't expect to see you out," Rory commented, actually wanting to talk to him because her date was incredibly boring.  
  
"You're not the only one who can go out," he said.  
  
She fought a scowl knowing --or hoping-- that he was only here with Cindy to spite her. "Right,"  
  
"The concert was so fun, wasn't it?" Cindy said still smiling.  
  
"Yes, it was great," Rory nodded, "Did you ever find Jennifer Aniston?"  
  
"No," she said sadly.  
  
"Huh, imagine that." Rory remarked uninterested.  
  
"I know, she must've left," Cindy nodded.  
  
"Yeah, well, I'm sure she would've loved to stick around to meet you, you're absolutely amusing,"  
  
Cindy giggled, "Thanks," she glanced at Jess, "She's nice,"  
  
Jess stared at her blankly, "Uh huh,"  
  
"I agree with Paris, she's quite the catch," Rory said with a sarcastic smile.  
  
"Jennifer Aniston was there?" Mark asked, half excitedly.  
  
Jess smirked, "As is he,"  
  
Rory glared at him, "Well, I hope you have a stimulating dinner, I have no doubt the conversation will be refulgent," she said sarcastically.  
  
"And you do realize that we are the only two of the four here that actually know what refulgent means, right?" Jess asked.  
  
"Have a nice dinner, Jess,"  
  
"Right back atcha," he said, leading Cindy to their table.  
  
Rory took another sip of her wine, thinking, Okay building, you can catch fire anytime now!  
  
"Who was that?" Mark asked.  
  
"My boss," Rory muttered.  
  
"He didn't act like your boss,"  
  
"No, he acted like an idiot, that's just him,"  
  
"No, he acted more like a spiteful boyfriend,"  
  
Rory frowned, "I wouldn't have gone out with you if I had a boyfriend and --wait, did you just mistake Jess for my BOYFRIEND?"  
  
"I'm just saying that's how he acted." Mark said.  
  
"Mm, yeah, okay," Rory played with the hem of the table cloth. "You know what? I actually have to use the restroom, I'll be right back, okay?" she smiled.  
  
"Okay," he nodded.  
  
She made a beeline for the bathroom not even noticing the blonde at the sink, she dialed the number, muttering "Pick up, pick up, pick up,"  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Shelly! Thank God! I need you to call me in five minutes at the most and tell me you have Bumpitis and you're dying so that I 'have' to leave my hellish date and come save your life,"  
  
"That bad?"  
  
"Yes,"  
  
"What's Bumpitis?"  
  
"Questions later, saving me now!"  
  
"Right, okay, I'll call you in five minutes,"  
  
"Good bye," she hung up, sighing and walking out of the restroom.  
  
She took her seat and put her napkin in her lap again, "Okay, I'm back," she smiled.  
  
"No line?"  
  
"No line," she varified. "So, have you eaten here before?"  
  
"Just once," he nodded.  
  
"I've never been here, I like it,"  
  
"We'll have to come here again," he smiled.  
  
Inwardly she thought, Yeah, right, like that's going to happen. She just offered a smile and suffered through five more minutes of conversation.  
  
**  
  
Monday morning at work she didn't bother telling Claire about the date when she asked, instead she just made a face and went, "Dating sucks."  
  
"That good, huh?" Claire smiled.  
  
"Actually I hear it was hellish," Jess said with his trademark smirk.  
  
"My date was not hellish," Rory objected.  
  
"Cindy said it was,"  
  
"She was probably talking about you." Rory quipped.  
  
"No, our date was anything but hellish, besides, she said you said it, something about Bumpitis, by the way, what IS that?"  
  
"Cindy knew how to pronounce it?" Rory asked in mock surprise.  
  
He shot her a look.  
  
"Yeah, but no, our date wasn't hellish, it was great,"  
  
"Which explains why you left before they even brought out the food," he nodded.  
  
"My roommate had an emergency, not that it's any of your business,"  
  
"Oh, yes, imaginary illnesses are horrible," he nodded solemnly.  
  
"Oh, and yours was so much better?"  
  
"Well, she was definitely stimulating," he smirked.  
  
"Yeah, right, she's the Scarecrow, except without the knowledge oh who Lincoln is,"  
  
"Well, yeah, when she's talking minutes seem like hours, but once you shut her up..."  
  
She caught the suggestive undertone, "Ew, gross!"  
  
"Hey, you asked." he shrugged.  
  
"And I will never do it again," she said  
  
"Fine by me, I won't even bother asking about YOUR date, I saw him," he made a face.  
  
"Well, at least MY date was more intelligent than a rock,"  
  
"But less intelligent than Dean," Jess replied. "Not a very wide range, I know,"  
  
"You're just saying that because you don't like anyone I date,"  
  
"Not true, I loved Dean, I wanted you to marry him and have a little Deana and Dean jr. running around by now. I was very disappointed when you left him for me," Jess shook his head, pretending to be disappointed.  
  
"I did not leave him for you," Rory spat back.  
  
"Oh no? That's not what you said,"  
  
"He left me,"  
  
"Oh please," Jess rolled his eyes, "If you wouldn't have been so hung up on me he never would've left you,"  
  
"You are so full of yourself,"  
  
"No, I'm just stating a fact,"  
  
"I was not hung up on you, I....I was stupid and I was going through my bad boy phase, that's it, just a phase,"  
  
"Even if that's true it doesn't change the fact that the reason you and Dean broke up was me,"  
  
"Maybe so, but it was an extremely stupid choice," she said.  
  
"Was it?"  
  
"Yes, it was. Leaving my perfect boyfriend for a guy who was just going to leave me anyway, that is the definition of stupid!"  
  
"He wasn't perfect, he was a Neanderthal," Jess corrected.  
  
"Whatever, at least HE didn't skip town on me, that's what made him a better boyfriend than you," she fired at him. But then she thought she saw an almost hurt expression in his eyes, only faintly and only for a second, then he went back to being a stoic. Then she wished she hadn't said it.   
  
"I mean, in the aspect of being around when I needed or wanted him to be,"  
  
Jess shrugged, "Like I care if you think he was Super Boyfriend,"  
  
"Well, he wasn't SUPER Boyfriend, just...he was a good boyfriend and he didn't deserve what I did,"  
  
He thought for a brief second, "Neither did you," he said before walking to his office, leaving her in complete shock.   
  
Did he just partly apologize? she wondered.  
  
***  
  
A/N: Hey! Okay, this was a long-ish chapter, not super long, but not super short, that's because I was mean and made you guys wait again! I'm sorry!!! PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All of my reviewers --Yes, I mean you-- rock! 


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